Supergirl
by ZmazingZoe
Summary: Kara has been different her whole life. Adopted with no memory at the age of six, her parents have tried to hide her extraterrestrial powers from the residents of Midvale and anyone else who came looking. However, when students start to go missing from her high school, Kara might have to become a little bit more super in order to save them.
1. Mislaid

A/N: Alrighty kids! Let's get cracking on this! I'm excited to actually do this thing because boy howdy do I have free time!

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" _Kara! Don't go so fast!" laughed a male voice from behind me. I giggled and kept running across the park. Suddenly I was caught up in someone's arms and lifted up into the air. They spun me around and pulled me close to their face. I took all of her in, her bright smile and the laugh lines covering her face, the shining blue of her eyes that filled me with warmth, her honey-gold hair, falling in loose curls around her face. She was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen._

" _Oh, my little sun, I love you so much," she said to me, voice smooth and soft. I giggled and she nuzzled our noses together, her smile growing wider. She held me tight and I felt safe. Everything felt so incredibly perfect. The man who had called to me caught up to us and the woman put me down. They kissed as they met and the man crouched down to place one on my forehead._

" _You left me in the dust kiddo, maybe you should be an athlete," he smiled at me, just as brightly as the woman._

" _No daddy, I want to be a scientist!" I said, pointing my little finger at him._

" _We know sunshine," said the woman, crouching down next to the man. "Your father was only joking-"_

 _A low rumble cut her off. The ground beneath us began to shake. A look of worry crossed their faces and the woman grabbed me and pulled me back up into her arms. The man, my father, wrapped his arms around both of us. The woman patted my hair down, trying to reassure me that everything was alright. Then, just as quickly as it started, it stopped._

" _Mommy, I'm scared," I said, looking up at the woman. She looked over at my father and then turned back to me._

" _I know, but I promise everything will be alright-"_

"Kara!" called a voice from far away. "You need to get up for school!"

I shot bolt upright, scared back to my senses. I groaned and rubbed my eyes and then ran my fingers back through my hair. I was dreaming about my birth parents again. Or at least who my imagination thought was my birth parents. I got out of my bed and stumbled into my bathroom. Staring at myself in the mirror, I twirled some of my hair between my fingers. I think I looked like them. I had the woman's blonde hair, blue eyes, and upturned nose and the man's face shape and ears. I didn't look like a ray of sunshine like they did. I was just me.

Before I could depress myself any further, I turned on the shower. Once the temperature was the perfect scalding hot I got in, washing my hair and scrubbing the dirt off my skin. I moved quickly, knowing that I was already pushing it by trying to shower before I got ready. Turning off the shower head, I grabbed a towel and then ran back to my room to get ready. Pulling on a sweater and some skinny jeans, I tried to get dressed before my mom called my name again.

"Kara Danvers! If you aren't down here in the next minute you're walking to school!" called the ever-joyous voice of my mother. I groaned and grabbed some shoes and my bag before rushing down the stairs while trying to shove my feet into the shoes. Then I tripped, sending my backpack flying and me tumbling down the steps. My mom and dad came rushing in from the kitchen to see what all the noise about and when my mom saw me sprawled across the floor she rushed over, "Are you okay sweetie? Did you hurt yourself?"

I gave her a deadpan, "Yeah mom I broke all my totally normal limbs because I do that all the time."

"Kara quit sassing your mother she's just trying to be nice," said my dad putting his hands on his hips. "Get up off the floor and come eat some breakfast. I made pancakes."

I got up, dusting off my knees and retrieving my backpack from by the front door. Now that my dad mentioned it, I could smell the batter and syrup coming from the kitchen. I mumbled an apology to my mom and walked past her to sit down and get some breakfast in before I had to go to school. Stuffing pancakes into my mouth, I listened to my parents talk.

"Did you call my sister about us going out to her house for a few weeks this summer?" asked my mom, leaning against the counter drinking her coffee. Her dark hair was pulled up into a ponytail and her face was covered in freckles.

"Not yet, with that toddler running around on a Christmas high I didn't want to bother her too much," he reached over to my plate and stole a piece of one of the pancakes, shoving it in his mouth.

"Hey!" I protested, pointing my fork at him. "That was mine."

He smiles innocently and went back to the stove to make more. My mom rolled her eyes and came over to sit next to me at the table. She placed her cup down and leaned forward as if she was trying to tell me a secret. "You excited for going back to school?"

"It's just the end of winter break, Mom. It's not the start of the school year or anything."

"I know," she replied, sliding back from her hunched position into a more relaxed one. "I just know you miss your friends and everything."

"Okay, Mom." I returned to my pancakes, trying to get as many of them in as I could. I loved my dad's pancakes. He didn't make them very often so I had to eat them while I could. My mom got up from the table and put her mug in the sink, kissing my dad's cheek as she walked past. They were really cute together. It was one of my favorite things about my parents, they just clicked so well.

"Finish up your food and meet me in the car sweetie, we need to get going."

I quickly gobbled up the rest of the pancakes and put the plate in the sink. Grabbing my backpack I headed out the door, excited to see everyone I had missed over break.

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History was nowhere near my favorite subject, so why did I have to have it first period? Mr. Kwan was droning on in a lecture about the Gilded Age and monopolies and I was jotting down the occasional note. Kwan didn't worry too much about what you were doing as long as you weren't obviously not paying attention. I had mastered the art of hiding my phone behind my notebook and holding my pen in a way that made it look like I was note taking in first semester so really I was set. I sitting there half paying attention when I got a message notification.

TT: Did you hear about Mr. Paulson quitting?

I looked over at Thea Hanigan who had sent me the message. She was staring at me and nodded her head for me to respond to her.

Me: No, do you know why?

TT: No clue. But what I did hear is that his replacement is super hot.

Me: Really?

TT: Very my girl, very.

"Thea! Put your phone away," called Mr. Kwan from the front of the classroom. She slipped it into her bag and I did the same, not wanting to have a bad start on my first day back. Mr. Kwan returned to his lecture and I lightly tapped my pen against my notebook, thinking. Boy, could I not wait for fifth period.

All day I had heard about the new teacher. I had learned for sure that they were indeed a woman and that she had previously been a forensic scientist with Metropolis City Police before she started working at our school. Along with that, I had heard a whole lot of rumors. Someone said that she had to quit her job and move because she had an affair with the police commissioner. Another person claimed that she was fired for meddling in the cases too much. Some else told me that she was actually a disgraced member of a seedy genetics company that got shut down. I really didn't know what to believe but I was definitely excited to actually meet her.

Finally, it was time for fifth period. I made my way to the science as quickly as I could, wanting to see the new teacher before the rest of my class. I rushed in and wow, they were right she was hot. She had a little button nose and round eyes that really contradicted the rest of the look she had going on. Her mouth was pursed into a tight line and her eyes were a cold, icy blue. She had red hair that tumbled down like she was an old Hollywood movie star and she dressed rather smartly compared to the rest of the teachers at Midvale High School. I tried to brush off the fact that I had burst into her room by moving to my seat in a cool composed manner. Soon enough, the rest of the class filed into the room and found their seats, half of them staring at the new teacher. The bell rang and she got up from her desk and walked to the board.

"Hello class, my name is Dr. Kane, but you probably know that already. I will be your new Chemistry teacher for the remainder of the year and hopefully more to come. Your previous teacher, Mr. Paulson won the lottery over the break and quit, so here I am. Now, could one of you tell what the last thing you learned before the break was?" her voice was soft and sweet but I could hear a sharp edge just underneath it that indicated she wasn't going to be taking any shit. I was going to love this class this semester.

Later that day, I was sitting in a booth at Sandi's, sipping on a chocolate milkshake and listening to Hadley give the rundown on all of the winter break drama. She babbled along about who had broken up with who and who cheated on their significant others. Hadley had a way of making the small events of the tiny town of Midvale so much more exciting. Despite the excitement she carried in her voice, my mind was still somewhere else.

"Do you guys ever have dreams about stuff that really happened to you?" I said suddenly, stirring my straw around wistfully. I looked up to examine Hadley and Gavin's reactions to my question.

Hadley looked a little surprised at my interruption as I usually listened to her stories quite diligently. She put her surprise aside an answered anyway. "Not really. I'm usually dreaming about other things," she winked at me and Gavin smacked her arm.

"I'm serious guys." I played with a piece of my hair as I talked. It was a nervous habit I had had since- well since I could remember.

"Well," started Gavin. "Sometimes I guess. Why do you want to know?"

"I don't know- it's stupid, just forget it," I said focusing back down on my milkshake.

"Kara-"

"Please just drop it." I cut Hadley off. "I'm really fine guys. I promise."

Silence covered the booth after I spoke. I twirled my straw around some more and watched out the window. Gavin picked at the dirt under his nails and Hadley turned her head to watch the patrons in the diner. We all sat in silence until the waitress came back over to check on us. Her presence brought all of us out of our tense silence to be kind to the staff. As she walked away, Hadley picked up her phone and gasped.

"What is it now Hadley?" asked Gavin, leaning over the table and placing his hand in his chin. I perked up as well, waiting for Hadley's latest news.

"It's Josh Butler," she brought her hand up to her mouth. I creased my eyebrows, examining her expression as Gavin went on.

"What did the football star do this time? Get kicked off the team for drinking? I heard that he and KJ go out and do it all the time."

"Gavin!" I said harshly. Hadley looked on the brink of tears. "Hadley, what happened?"

"His parents just reported him missing. No one has seen him since last night."

"Oh my god, I'm sorry Hadley, I didn't realize I just-"

"Don't be sorry, Gav. I just- that poor family. If Gavin ever went missing I-"

I grabbed Hadley's hand and squeezed it tightly as a few tears started slipping from her eyes. Gavin rubbed her back in an attempt to calm her down as I looked out the window. How could someone from my school actually go missing? Nothing like that _ever_ happened in Midvale. As Hadley broke further into a sob, I paid for our food and we all got up and left Sandi's. I walked them to their car and then started off in the direction of my house Once the coast was clear I leaped up into the sky and flew the rest of the way home. Landing on my roof, I climbed in my window and crawled onto my bed. A moment or two later, my mom came in.

"Hey sweetie, I heard you come in. How was Sandi's?" She asked, sitting on the edge of my bed. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine," I replied, but the break in my voice gave away my emotions. My mom came close to me on the bed and rubbed my back. I started to cry.

"Kara, what happened?"

"A kid at my school was reported missing today and I- I" I broke down and grabbed my mom, pulling her into a hug. She smoothed my hair and spoke comforting words to me. Slowly, my crying stopped and I lightly sniffled pulling away.

"Thanks, mom," I mumbled, crawling back under my covers. I think I'm going to go to bed."

"Okay sweetie, just call me if you need anything." She smiled at me and got up, leaving me alone in the dark. I pulled the covers tighter around my body and tried to go to sleep.


	2. Expired

A/N: I'm typing this one up while I'm waiting for my AP scores so I might have a heart attack and die but it'll be worth it.

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"Kara! Kara wake up!" called the voice of my mother. My eyes shot open and I looked around. I was in my bedroom. My mom was holding me. The clock next to my bed read 4:32 in the morning. Wait- why was I awake. "Kara you were screaming, are you okay?"

"Um, yeah mom, it was just a bad dream," I reassured her, shuddering. I had seen Josh. He was strapped down to some type of table. He was in pain I could feel it. There were needles shoved in and out of his skin, wires stuck to his body. Everything hurt. He was screaming out for help and I could see him but I couldn't move.

"Was it about that boy who went missing?" she asked, brushing my hair out of my face lovingly.

"I can't remember," I lied. If I gave her an answer she would start asking questions and I didn't want to relive that. It was just too much.

"Alright sweetie," she said with a frown. "How about you go take a shower and I'll make you some waffles and coffee. It'll make you feel better."

I nodded and followed my mom out of my bedroom. I turned the hot water all the way up to full pressure and got in. It was a routine shower until I started washing my body. Kept pressing the loofa too hard into my skin, turning it red and raw. I needed to wash that dream away. It was so much I- I couldn't handle it. The loofa slipped out of my hand onto the floor and instead of picking it back up I collapsed onto the floor, crying again. I just couldn't get that image out of my mind. Eventually, the tears subsided and I got up, turning off the water and getting dressed.

I came downstairs and sat down at the table. My mom had made a plate of strawberry waffles complete with whipped cream. The waffles were waiting for me right next to a steaming cup of coffee. I slowly at the breakfast and watched my mother brew her coffee. My dad and I drank ours black but she had a much sweeter tooth. We used to joke that she was some type of alien because of it. She didn't appreciate it but my dad and I found her reaction hilarious.

"So sweetie," my mom started as she sat next to me at our tiny little breakfast table, "Did you remember what your dream was about?"

"No," I responded, maybe a little too quickly. She looked at me knowingly but I refused to respond to her question. She sighed and patted my hand before getting up. "You should try to get some chores done before school starts. Your father has been meaning to fix the weather vane on the barn, maybe you could do that for him?"

I slowly nodded and got up to get my coat. I knew that my mother meant well but it was hard to not feel like she was just giving me busy work. Zipping up my red hoodie, I headed out into the cold January morning. It was still early enough that I could see my breath but I didn't particularly care at the moment. I shot up into the air and landed on the roof up by the weather vane. Examining the way it was bent, I wrapped my hands around the base and bent it back into place. Instead of going back inside, however, I laid down on the roof and looked up at the sky. It was still dark outside but all the stars had faded away long ago.

I had always enjoyed being up on the roof. It was one of my favorite places to be when I didn't want to talk to anyone. No one else was actually able to get up there, because, ya know, they couldn't fly. I didn't really know why, but I had certain abilities that normal people didn't have. My parents said I wasn't allowed to tell anyone about it because the world didn't like people who were different. They said my powers were just a part of me that I shouldn't be sharing with other people. It was harder when I was little as I couldn't quite grasp the concept of what I should be able to handle but I knew a lot more now.

"Kara!" called my dad's voice from the ground. "Are you up on the roof again?"

I jumped up and floated down to where my dad was standing, hands on his hips. "I was fixing the weather vane and I got distracted, sorry dad."

"Sorry is right young lady! You're going to be late for school!"

My eyes widened and I grabbed my dad, racing us both to the car at an unnatural speed. He grumbled, buckling himself in. "I told you I don't like when you do that Kara."

"Sorry dad, I don't have time for your walking speed, let's go!" I complained, hitting the dashboard insistently.

"Backpack." I raced out of the car and into the house, grabbing my bag and making it back before my dad could blink. "Got it."

"Okay, let's go."

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Climbing out of the car, I waved my dad goodbye and started to jog lightly towards the school. On the front steps, I was greeted by a frantic Hadley.

"Kara!" she called, trying to stop me.

"What's up, Hadley?" I asked, grabbing her arm and pulling her along with me. I only had two minutes before class started and I wasn't wasting it on this conversation.

"The cops are at school today." I stopped dead in my tracks. "They're questioning kids about Josh."

"Shit," I mumbled. "Do they think someone at school knows something?"

"I don't know, but I thought I'd give you warning in case they pull you out of class or anything." Josh Butler was a few grades ahead of us and had a brother in our class. His brother, Dean, and I had dated for a couple of months our freshman year but we broke up at least a year ago.

"Thanks, but I gotta go, Kwan doesn't appreciate it when kids show up late. See you at lunch?"

"Yeah bye!" she waved and then scurried off in the opposite direction. I jogged up the stairs and made it into Kwan's classroom just as the bell rang. Relieved, I sat at my desk and got out my notebook, nervous for the day to come.

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Halfway into my third-period class, my teacher's phone rang. She answered it, stating the usual okay's and of course's. After she hung up she scanned the classroom and her eyes stopped on me. Great. I got up, grabbing my stuff and headed down to the office. There was a police officer outside the door. I waved at him as I walked in but he didn't respond. Shrugging it off, I greeted the receptionists and asked them where I was supposed to go. They pointed me towards the principal's office and quickly went back to their work. Pulling my hair up into a ponytail, I walked down the small hallway. I stopped at the door, took a deep breath, and knocked.

"Come in," called Principal Powers. I walked in to see Powers sitting behind her desk with the Sheriff standing to the right of her. "Take a seat, Kara."

I sat down across from her and looked up at the Sheriff. He smiled at me and then nodded to Powers who started talking again. "So I understand that you were romantically involved with Dean Butler last year?"

"Um, yeah, we dated for a few months," I said awkwardly, trying to ignore the looming figure of Sheriff Wilson.

"While you two were together did you ever notice anything strange going on in their home, particularly with Joshua Butler?"

"Not really? He usually wasn't there when we hung out. I didn't really know him that well."

Powers looked over at Sheriff Jackson, almost like they were having a silent conversation. Then she turned back to me, "Have you noticed anything weird going on recently, especially pertaining to Joshua."

The images from my dream last night filled my head. The screaming. The pain. Oh god, the pain. I shuddered. "No, I haven't."

"Well then," said Powers, standing up. "I guess we are done here!"

She smiled and shook my hand. I cautiously smiled back and turned to leave. As I closed the door behind me I lingered for a moment, listening in on their conversation.

"Well, she can be checked off the list-"

"Not so fast," the Sheriff cut her off. "I think she knows more than she is letting on. Call it Sheriff's intuition."

"The kids are scarred Jackson, nothing like this has ever happened for them before-"

"Just don't cross Miss Danvers off. Let's move on."

I hurried away after that. I couldn't believe I had been so obvious. Now he's going to look further into my past and who knows what he will find out. All because of that stupid dream. Why had I even dreamed that? I had no reason to believe that Josh was in any type of danger. For all I knew he just ran away. I sighed running my hands through my hair. I needed to stop worrying about this. It had nothing to do with me.

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"Kara! I know my class is boring, but try to stay awake," called Mr. Kwan from the front of the classroom. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and glared at the kids giggling next to me. They shut up and I went back to trying to understand what was on the board. It had been 3 days since Josh had gone missing and I had been having the same dream every night. Well, not the same one. They were always in the same place but the same things never happened. I had woken up screaming every night and my parents were getting really worried. Since I was waking up so early I hadn't been getting my normal amount of sleep and that fact was really hitting me this morning.

Finally, the bell for second period rang and I made my way out of the classroom. Gavin caught me in the hallway and pulled me over to the wall. "Is everything alright with you? You were falling asleep for the class."

"Yeah Gav, I'm fine," I said, trying to brush him off. I had gotten away with not telling about my dreams so far and I wasn't starting now. I started to walk away but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"You're never like this Kara. What's going on?" he had a look in his eyes that said that he wasn't going to let this go.

"Lunch. You, me, Hadley. I'll tell you everything, okay?" Looking satisfied, he nodded and walked off to wherever he needed to be next. I yawned and rubbed my eyes again. Hopefully, I could make it to lunch.

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I watched Hadley and Gavin from across the courtyard. The twins looked absolutely nothing, Hadley taking after their mom with sharper feature and Gavin after their dad with a much more soft face. The only thing they had in common was that they were both born with light hair but neither of them had liked it very much. Gavin now kept his at a consistent dark brown while Hadley changed hers constantly. She was currently sporting a very natural looking red but she'd probably change it soon. Their mom was a professional hairdresser so their hair always seemed perfectly natural.

I was secretly hoping they didn't see me so that I could avoid telling them. The fates were not in my favor. Hadley spotted me and waved me over, Reluctantly, I walked in their direction. As I sat down, Hadley leaned excitedly over the table.

"So Gavin tells me you've got some secrets to tell us." She had the twinkle in her eyes that always appeared when she was learning something new. Hadley wanted to move to the big city and become a reporter one day. Everyone in Midvale knew that she would be amazing at it as she someone always knew everything about everybody.

"Well. Ever since Josh went missing I've been having these weird dreams-"

"Of you two having sex?" she asked raising her eyebrows suggestively.

"No! Hadley that's disgusting!" I responded. "They have been of Josh though."

"Ignore her Kara, what have you been dreaming about?" asked Gavin, leaning forward as if it would get me to open up.

"Well- um, I- uh," I took a deep breath and then told them everything about my nightmares for the last few nights. The metal table. The straps. The pain. When I was done they stared at me, dumbfounded. "Well?"

"Jesus, Kara, I'm so sorry you've been seeing that, that must be horrible," said Gavin, taking my hand and giving it a loving squeeze.

"Did you tell the cops?" asked Hadley. We both turned to her and I raised my eyebrow quizzically. "What?" she asked, offended at our questioning. "I've read a lot of stories about people actually having premonitions through dreams and that actually helping the police investigations!"

"I don't think implying that what Kara is dreaming is really happening is going to help this situation Hadley," Gavin said, giving his sister an annoyed look.

"Besides," I said. "I don't think the cops will feel that my possible dream premonitions are useful to their investigation Hadley."

"Well I think they are, and that's why I'll start my own investigation using your dreams as evidence!" she stated excitedly. Gavin and I shared a surprised look.

"Do you think that's a good idea though?" asked Gavin, trying to talk her down, but once Hadley had an idea she stuck with it to the end.

"Yes! It's a wonderful idea and you are both going to help me with it." I sighed but agreed and Gavin tried to protest further but eventually gave in. We decided to meet at my house after school to "discuss the investigation."

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"Let's go over the facts again," Hadley said, looking at the pegboard on the wall. I groaned and threw myself back onto the bed. We had converted the guest bedroom into our base of operations, Hadley bringing a pegboard to create an investigation board like they had in the movies. She had also set up a whiteboard and a filing cabinet. I had a feeling she was going to try to start up some kind of Nancy Drew business out of my house which I was not very excited about.

"Okay, so we know that he is being kept in some sort lab in an unknown location being experimented on by an unknown person for an unknown reason."

"Hadley, we've been doing this for hours," groaned Gavin. "I want to go home."

"We aren't going anywhere until I- we have a lead!"

"It's a school night!"

"Too bad!"

"Hadley, come on," I interjected. "We don't have anything. Let's call it a day."

"No, I-" Hadley was cut off by Gavin's phone ringing. He picked it up and rolled his eyes.

"Hey, mom what's up?' he asked, mimicking her speech with his hand as he listened to her. We laughed but he quickly stopped, a worried looked in his eyes.

"What?" He listened for another moment before wrapping up the call. "Okay, we'll see you soon mom."

Hadley and I exchanged a confused glance and stared at him expectantly. He looked scared.

"Sheriff Jackson just sent out a town-wide curfew. They found Josh's body dumped in the forest."

Hadley choked back a gasp, hand swinging up to cover her mouth. She quickly recovered, however, wiping away any stray tears and asserting herself. "If I'm gonna investigate this I can't get all emotional. Let's go, Gavin."

We all hugged and I walked them to their car. When they were out of sight I flew up to the roof. I stayed up there for hours, just thinking. Josh was dead. Someone I knew was really gone. Tears started to fall down my cheeks but I didn't brush them away like Hadley. If she was right and I really was dreaming about what was really happening to him then- then-. I screamed. I wrapped my hand into a fist and slammed it onto the roof. It went straight through. I didn't care. I completely broke down right then and there. I didn't care who heard me I just wanted it out. I could hear my parents calling my name. I just kept sobbing. I couldn't stop. I felt my dad's arms around me. He held me for a long time while I cried.

Slowly, the tears stopped coming. My throat was sore. I wanted to go home. "I'm sorry I broke the roof."

"It's okay baby girl, we'll fix it," he whispered. After a while, we got up and he led me over to a ladder on the side of the roof. We climbed down and my mother caught me in her arms, smoothing down my hair. "It's okay," repeated my dad. "We'll fix it."

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A/N: Well that was a lot. I do hope you all enjoyed it! I'm excited to get this thing going!


	3. Skeletons

A/N: I know I'm whipping these out rather fast but if I don't I'll second guess myself again, so I do hope you enjoy!

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I hadn't dreamt of Josh since they found his body. School had been canceled for the week to give the students the proper time to mourn. I had holed myself up in my room. Only coming down to get me new bowls of cereal. My parents had tried to make me other food but I didn't eat any of it. I was perfectly content sitting in my room eating my Lucky Charms and drawing. I really did love drawing, it was very calming. I never showed anyone my picture though. Once when I was eleven my mom had found my secret stash under my mattress and told me they were the most amazing thing she'd ever seen. I ignored her complement and re-hid them. As of now, I was trying to draw my birth parents, or at least who I thought my birth parents were. I always drew the things from my dreams, hoping that they would give something away about my past but I had had no such luck in that department.

I scooped up another bite of cereal and examined what I had so far. I had their faces down, I'd probably drawn them a hundred times. The clothes were where I was getting stuck. I wanted to put them in what I always dreamt them in but those clothes were weird, to say the least. It felt like something you would see in a science fiction movie, not on your parents. Creasing my eyebrows, started sketching out what I remembered from my dreams. It was almost an ancient robe but the way it was worn made it feel more futuristic. Suddenly, there was a knock on my door. I closed my sketchbook and told him to come in.

"Hey sweetie," said my mom as she walked in. "You're dad and I were thinking that maybe we should order pizza to the house?"

"That's a good idea," I replied, fiddling with my hair. "You should order pepperoni it's Dad's favorite."

"I was thinking that we order cheese," she said, sitting on the edge of my bed.

"You guys don't even like cheese- oh."

"What do you think. You, me, your dad, and your favorite type of pizza. We could sit in the living room and watch a movie too. Your dad went out and bought a movie on Blu ray."

"I don't know mom, I don't want to ruin your night," I replied, turning to look out the window. I didn't want to see her reaction to my moody statement.

"Well that's too bad," she said smugly, "because I already ordered the pizza and if you don't come down and watch that movie with us you're grounded."

"Seriously?" I asked, staring at her, surprised. She never did things like this.

"Yes, Kara. You've been up in this room for days eating only cereal and I'm sick of it! You're going back to school soon and I'm not letting you stay in this little depression!" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Look, Kara, I know that this has been really hard for you. You knew this boy and now he's gone, but you can't let it consume you like this. People die, usually not under such horrible circumstances, but they do. But you're still alive, Kara. You, Hadley, Gavin, your father, me. We are all still alive and it hurts us to see you like this. You can't lose yourself because of this, Kara. You can't."

She was sitting there, clutching my hand, tears brimming her eyes. I pulled her into a hug. "I'm so sorry mom. I'm so sorry."

She pulled away and held my face in her hands. "I know sweetie, I know."

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The next day I was sitting in my living room eating mac and cheese and watching Wheel of Fortune when Hadley and Gavin burst into my living room.

"Hello, darling!" called Hadley, plopping down on the couch next to me. "I heard that you left your room and I just had to see for myself!"

"And we missed you," added Gavin, sitting in the armchair.

"Yes, and we missed you," agreed Hadley. "What're we watching?"

"Wheel of Fortune," I replied, stuffing more mac and cheese into my mouth.

"God, Kara, sometimes I swear that you're actually a 40-year-old woman, why can't you watch normal shows?"

"Wheel of Fortune is normal!" I protested. "Gavin back me up!"

"Sorry Kara, I gotta agree with Hadley here." I scoffed at his response, acting more offended than I really was. "Besides," he said, "we didn't come to watch TV. Hadley?"

I turned to the redhead, raising my eyebrows. "Well," she started, "they released Josh's autopsy results to the public yesterday."

"Really? That's why you guys came? To talk about Josh?" I stood up. God, did my friends not actually care about me anymore?

"Well yes and no!" said Gavin, trying to recover. "We were worried about you but we thought you should know something! Everything that that paper said lined up with what happened in your dreams! The needles, the shock pads, everything that you said, Kara. That's a little weird isn't it?"

I sat back down in shock. Hadley had been right about the whole premonition thing. But that also meant that everything I saw really happened to him. All that pain. Before I could dwell on it too much, Gavin was kneeling in front of me and taking my hands. "Look, Kara. I know that you really took this hard but we know something the cops don't know and probably won't believe anyway. We can use this. We can find the person that did this to him. Don't you want to do that?"

I nodded, biting my lip. I wanted to do a lot more than finding them but finding them was a good start. "Okay," I agreed, "where do we begin?"

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I watched the houses pass as we drove down the street. We were in town on the way to AJ Samuels' house. AJ and Josh were- had been best friends and he had agreed to talk to us. Well, he had agreed to talk to Hadley and me, Gavin was just our ride down there. Hadley had told him she was doing a piece on Josh for the school paper and wanted to ask him a few questions. It wasn't a complete lie, she really was doing a piece on him for the paper. AJ just didn't need to know about our ulterior motives to the interview.

"This is it," said Hadley from the front seat. Gavin pulled over and we got out of the car, walking up to the door. Hadley knocked, seemingly unafraid. We waited for a moment before the door was opened and we were greeted by AJ's sister Alani. She invited us inside and pointed us downstairs to where AJ was waiting for us.

We came down the stairs to see him playing some game on his PlayStation. When he saw us he quickly paused it and stood to greet us. "Hi, you guys must be Hadley and Kara?"

"That's us," replied Hadley, shaking his hand. I did the same and he invited us to sit. "You have a beautiful home."

"Yeah my sister just redecorated everything," he looked around nervously. "So is this when we start the interview? I've never really done anything like this before."

"Don't worry AJ, you're in good hands." Hadley motioned for me to get out my pen and paper. My job was to write down everything that was said so Hadley could focus on the questions. "So, how long were you and Josh friends?"

"We've been best friends since 2nd grade. Our parents set us up on playdates for a while before that but we didn't like each other until Josh told off a guy that was picking on me on the playground."

"How heroic of him," said Hadley. "Do you have a favorite memory of him?"

"Um, lemme think for a moment," he said, creasing his eyebrows in thought. His eyebrows were really thick and dark (mostly due to his Samoan heritage). His dark eyes light up with an idea. "Sophomore year, right after his six months were up on his license, we drove upstate and stayed in this log cabin for a week. It was beautiful up there. We went fishing on the lake and stayed up late stargazing. It was one of the best weeks of my life."

Hadley turned towards me, checking to make sure I got all of that. I nodded and she turned back to AJ. "That sounds amazing AJ. So, tell me, off the record," I moved the pencil away from the page, " Were you and Josh romantically involved? The way you talk about him is just so endearing-"

He laughed warmly and shook his head. "No Josh was straight as a nail. I did have a crush on him in middle school but I knew that it wasn't going to work out so I moved on."

I was surprised, to say the least. I hadn't known that AJ was into guys. Well, you learn something new every day. "That's really sweet AJ, thank you for sharing that."

"Yeah, no problem, I really don't want to lie anymore."

"What do you mean by that?" questioned Hadley.

"Nothing!" he quickly replied. Too quickly.

"Hey," I said, putting down the notebook and pencil. "Don't be afraid. Hiding stuff isn't going to help people remember Josh. What did you mean about lying?"

"Well, I- uh, when the cops asked me that question I couldn't tell them the truth. It's just- I didn't want to become a suspect in my best friend's murder, ya know?" His voice broke a little bit as he spoke. I placed my hand on his shoulder and rubbed circles with my thumb.

"It's okay, we won't tell anyone AJ. I promise."

"Thanks," he said, rubbing his face with his hands. He brought his smile back. "Is there anything else?"

Hadley started to open her mouth but I cut her off. "No, I think we're good. Thank you so much, AJ."

I stood up to shake his hand but he pulled me into a hug. I was initially too surprised to react but quickly recovered and returned the gesture. He let go and hugged Hadley too. I smiled and we all said our goodbyes. We were on our way back to the car when Hadley turned to me.

"You didn't have to end the interview, you bleeding heart," she joked, lightly punching me.

"What can I say I'm-"

"Kara! Hadley! Wait!"

We turned around to see AJ running towards us, waving his arm to catch our attention. We stopped, letting him catch up to us. "There's something else I want you to know."

"For the article?" asked Hadley, giving me a look that clearly read 'now this is interesting'.

"No, for the investigation." Hadley and I looked at him in shock. "What? It's pretty obvious. No one gets this interested in articles for the school newspaper being that no one reads it."

"Why did you agree to talk to us then?" I asked, utterly confused.

"I was interested I how serious you guys were. And I needed to get something off of my chest."

"The gay thing?"

"Hadley!"

"What?"

"No, not that. It's something about the night he went missing. Something I saw."

"You guys were together on the night that he-"

"Why didn't you tell the police?' I asked interrupting Hadley.

"Because we were drunk! I didn't think they would take well to a gay best friend gets drunk and murders his friend after he was rejected."

"Shit, yeah, that makes sense," said Hadley.

"No, it doesn't!"

"Kara!" she said, raising her voice. "If you're going to be this way you can wait in the car!"

I crossed my arms and huffed at her. She acted like a real mom sometimes. It was not appreciated. Then she continued, "What did you see the night he went missing?"

"I can't remember a lot, we were pretty far gone. We were at the bar, you know the one that if you give the bouncer 20 bucks he'll let you in?" he paused waiting for an answer. We both nodded and he went on. "Well, this woman was really chatting him up at the counter at the counter all night. I think they left with each other."

"Oh my god," I whispered under my breath.

"Do you remember anything about her?" asked Hadley with wide eyes. "could you describe her to Kara? She's a great artist."

"No, I can only remember that she had blonde hair. I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she assured. "Thank you so much, AJ."

"You won't tell the police right?"

"We won"t." She grabbed my shoulder and dragged me back to the car. We got in and Gavin asked us if we found anything out. I didn't say anything. I was still processing it. How could he not tell the cops when he was questioned? It had to be killing him to know that that information might have actually saved Josh. I could never live with something like that.

I half listened as Hadley recounted everything to Gavin. I opted to stare out the window instead. We drove past Josh's house. There was a little shrine with his picture, candles, and flowers. What were they feeling? How hard were the Butler's taking it?

"Wait, what?" exclaimed Gavin, pulling me away from my thoughts. "He might have actually seen Josh's murderer and didn't care to tell the police? And now we know? And we also aren't telling the police?"

"Gavin, calm down-" tried Hadley.

"Calm down?" he pulled the car over. "What the hell were you thinking? Kara! You went along with this?"

"Yes, Gavin. She did. If he told the cops now they would find a way to blame him. Have you met the people in this town? They don't exactly like people who are different!" She was right. This town didn't like different. I'd been hiding for years because of it. If people knew about me . . .

"Can you believe her Kara?"

"Don't keep bringing her into this-"

"Stop it!" I yelled. They looked back at me. "A kid is dead and you two are sitting here arguing! I can't believe you guys can be so insensitive! Gavin, we aren't telling the police, we promised AJ we wouldn't and we aren't going back on that. So you need to decide if you want to keep helping us or not. We are going to find Josh's killer and we are going to turn her over to the proper authorities when we do, okay?"

They didn't respond, still shocked from my outburst. I sighed.

"I'm just gonna walk home, see you guys later." I climbed out of the car and started jogging towards my house. I could hear them calling behind me. Probably to stop r come back but I wasn't in the mood to listen to them anymore. I picked up the pace, not caring if I would be sore tomorrow. I needed a break.

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A/N: Well there's chapter three, hope y'all liked it!


	4. Recurrence

A/N: Howdy y'all. I' back again to give you another update! Thanks for reading!

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"Hey, um, can I talk to you for a second?" I nervously asked. Dr. Kane turned around from her desk, an annoyed look on her face. When she saw me her cold stare melted into a kind smile. I hated when she did that. It was terrifying.

"Of course, Kara. What do you want to talk about?' she sat down at her desk, pulling out some papers from her desk and putting on a pair of black rimmed glasses.

"Well," I started, trying to find the words. "You were a forensic scientist before you came to work here right?"

"Yes I was, what about it?" Oh god, she didn't sound interested at all. Breath, Kara. You can do this.

"I wanted to ask you, as a professional, if you think they are going to solve Josh's murder," I spoke quickly, trying to get it out before I could embarrass myself. Unless I already did.

She looked up at me, almost surprised. "Well, there are a lot of factors in solving a case like this, Kara. They're going to need a lot of evidence to convict someone, or even have an idea of who could have done it."

"That makes sense, yeah. Thanks, Dr. Kane," I said, waving goodbye and starting to walk away. As I reached for the doorknob, I turned back around. "Dr. Kane?'

"Yes?"

"If someone knew something that the police didn't about the case what should they do?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I don't know I just-"

"Kara. Do you know something about Josh Butler's murder?"

"What?" asked, trying to take offense. "Of course not. I told the police everything I know."

"What did you tell the police Kara?" she asked, walking towards me.

"I- I don't think I should be telling you that," I stammered, backing up into the door.

"Kara, I'm just a teacher, you should be able to trust me. Do you know something about Josh's death?" She stopped about a foot from me but the tension made it seem a lot closer.

"I- I, uh- I have to go." I grabbed the doorknob and scurried out of there as fast as I could. That was terrifying. I gave myself away to a teacher who was probably going to tell Principal Powers who was going to tell Sheriff Jackson. Shit. I needed to talk to Hadley and Gavin.

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I sat in our booth at Sandi's waiting for Hadley and Gavin. I nervously twiddled my thumbs, watching the door. I had sent an emergency meeting text right after leaving the school and they had said they were on their way. Just as I was about to pick up my phone to call Gavin they walked through the door.

"Hey, Kara. We got your text, what's going on?" asked Hadley as she slid into the furthest seat in the booth. I recounted the events from Dr. Kane's classroom, informing them of how she might be onto us. After I was done, I watched for their reactions.

"Okay," said Hadley, clearly trying to sort through everything I just said. "So Dr. Kane knows that you know something about the investigation and that's it right?"

"Yes."

"So we're good then? If she tells and someone starts asking questions you can just lie right?" she asked.

"I mean, I guess," I replied, pushing some loose strands of hair behind my ear.

"Wait, wait, wait," interrupted Gavin. We both looked at him skeptically. "Don't you guys think Kane's behavior was a little weird? Wouldn't you want to try to console a kid to get them to tell the police what they know instead of questioning and scaring them away?"

"Well, I mean-"

"And isn't it strange that she left her job as a forensic scientist in Metropolis to teach in Midvale?"

"That is a little strange," agreed Hadley, furrowing her eyebrows in thought.

"Not to mention that she showed up and then Josh immediately went missing."

"Gavin, that's a little too much don't you think?" I said. "Besides, she isn't even blonde."

"Must I remind you that AJ was drunk?" He raised his eyebrows like he was stating the obvious and waiting for us to get it.

"Gavin-"

"I'm just saying-"

"Gavin-"

"it's a little weird-"

"Gavin!" I yelled. Hadley and Gavin stared in shock. The whole dinner was staring. Great. "Seeing as this is resolved I'm going home."

"Kara you need to stop leaving every time you get frustrated," said Hadley, grabbing my wrist to stop me. "Can't we all just talk like civilized people?"

I took a deep breath and grabbed Hadley's shoulders. "Hadley. I love you a lot. It's just that sometimes I need my space, okay?"

"Fine. Whatever," she brushed me off and returned to her seat. I started to say something but she cut me off, "Just go."

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I was sitting in my room, staring at my phone. I think I was hoping for Hadley to call so we could make up. We had been best friends since second grade when I started going to school in Midvale (I was adopted a year earlier but my parents said that they were having me take an adjustment year before they enrolled me in school). I didn't want our friendship to be ruined by this stupid investigation.

"Are you still up Kara?" asked a voice from the door. I looked up to see my dad standing there with two steaming mugs. "Yeah dad, I'm still up."

"Your mom sent me up here with some hot chocolate." He lumbered over and handed me a cup, taking a seat at my desk. "So your mom told me you and Hadley had a fight today?"

"Yeah, we did." I took a sip of the hot chocolate, trying to avoid talking. My dad wasn't the best at feelings and I always found it hard to talk to him about my problems.

"What about?" he spun the swivel chair back and forth in a childish manner while he waited for me to respond.

"Just stuff, Dad." I stared at the wall, trying to ignore his presence. I heard him place his cup down on my desk and sigh.

"Look, kid, I'm not your mother. I know that. I don't understand all your teenage girl things like she does, but you are my kid and I love you. I just want to help you out but I can't do that if you won't open up."

I didn't reply. He just didn't get it. We sat in silence for a minute or two when he got up and left. I sighed and put my cup down, rubbing eyes. He was just trying to be there for me but I just shut him down. Seemed to be a common theme in my relationships as of late. I rolled over and faced the wall. Maybe some sleep would make me feel better.

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" _Please, please stop!" I heard a voice cry out in the dark. Oh no. Why was I dreaming this again? I thought I was done with the Josh dreams?_

" _Please! No, no, no, no," they cried again. Wait. That voice wasn't Josh. I recognized it._

 _Suddenly, everything in the room lit up. Thea. Thea Hannigan was strapped to the table now. Oh god. No, no, no, no, no. Not again. I couldn't do this again._

 _She screamed, tears falling out of her eyes as a shock went through her body. She was sobbing and fighting against the restraints. I tried to reach out, but I couldn't move. I couldn't close my eyes. All I could do was watch. God._

 _I watched as she was shocked again and again. Then there were needles. A lot of needles. Fire. everything blurred together with my tears. I screamed right along with her, wanting it to stop, begging for it to stop._

"Kara!"

I jumped awake to see my mom and dad standing above me. They looked scared.

"Kara, you were screaming again," said my mom, brushing some of my hair away from my face. "Is everything alright?"

"Bad dream," I replied, trying to brush them off. I needed to call Hadley or Gavin. Something was wrong. I got up and started rooting through my dresser for normal clothes.

"Kara, what're you doing?" asked my mom. "Its four in the morning."

"I know," I mumbled, grabbing a jacket and pulling it on over my pajama top.

"You aren't going out right now Kara, there's a curfew," said my dad, putting his hands on his hips.

Pulling jeans on over my sleeping shorts I replied, "Unless Sheriff Jackson can fly I think I'll be fine."

"Kara!" exclaimed my mother, grabbing my wrist. "You aren't leaving this house."

I yanked my hand away. "Mom, this is a matter of life and death. I need to go. Now."

"Nothing can possibly be that serious-"

"Well, it is. Believe me or not, I'm going." I shoved past them to my door and started jogging out of the house.

"Kara Danvers! If you leave this house you're-"

I didn't hear the rest of what he said. I took off the ground and started flying into town. I flew as fast as I could without being seen by anyone that might have been out. Spotting my destination, I landed in the yard and ran up to the window. I repeatedly hit it with my fist, not hard enough to break the glass but enough to make a decent noise. I heard shuffling from the room on the other side of the glass and then the light turned on. Gavin appeared at the window and I saw his mouth move. I motioned from him to come outside. A minute later, Gavin, Hadley, and i were standing on the front lawn half dressed.

"I think that Thea Hannigan is in trouble,' i said, shifting my weight back and forth.

"Why?" asked Gavin, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"I had another dream, but this time it wasn't Josh. It was Thea."

"Shit," Hadley whispered under her breath.

"We have to tell the sheriff. Now," I said, looking back and forth between them. They quickly nodded and I grabbed their wrists, pulling them with me towards Sheriff Jackson's house. We made good time, partially because I was pulling them at a speed that was pushing the limit of how fast normal people should have been able to. We were a block away when we heard it. Sirens.

Police cars drove past us, not bothering to stop the kids that were out at an unreasonable hour. The Sheriff's car drove past. No, no, no, no, no. We were too late. I was too late. If I didn't stop at the Matthews' house, then maybe I- maybe I could've- I fell down to my knees. I couldn't do it again. I couldn't watch her suffer like I watched Josh.

Gavin placed his hands on my shoulders, trying to lift me up, "Come on Kara. We need to get you home-"

"No!" I screamed, shoving him off of me. "This is all my fault. I could've saved her!"

"Kara, you couldn't have done anything. She was already gone by the time that you even had an inkling that she was being hurt-"

"Stop it! Stop lying!"

"Kara, what has gotten into you?" asked Hadley, kneeling in front of me. I pushed her down and started walking. I needed to clear my head. As soon as I was out of sight, I took to the sky again. I ended up on my front lawn. As I tried to land, I crashed, tossing up grass and dirt in every which direction. I didn't get up. I just laid there. I didn't deserve to get up again.

I could hear my parents coming out of the house. I could feel them picking me up and taking me inside. They laid me down on the couch and we all sat there for a very long time. There was a lot of crying. I just wanted everything to stop. As the tears subsided my eyes started to lull. I didn't want to sleep. I didn't want to have to see it again. But the tiredness overtook me and I fell into the darkness of sleep.

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" _Oh Kara, you need to wake up now, it's almost time to go to your cousin's birthday party," cooed a voice from above me. My eyes fluttered open and I saw her. My mom. She brushed my hair out of my face and smiled down at me lovingly. "Come now, Sunshine, we don't want to miss it."_

 _I turned away from her and pulled the covers over my head. "I'm sleepy mommy."_

 _The door squeaked and another person sat on the edge of the bed. "Kara, I know you're tired but we must attend the party. First birthdays only happen once, you know."_

" _But daddy!" I protested, coming out from under my blanket. Suddenly, he grabbed me and lifted me from the bed and spun me around. I giggled and lightly hit his arms as he went._

" _See Kara, now you're awake, so please get ready?" he pouted his lips and brought his hands to a praying position, pleading with me._

" _Alright daddy," I said, smiling widely. He grabbed me up and smothered my face in kisses before putting me back down. I shooed him and my mother away and then got dressed in my nicest blue dress. I came outside of my room, skipping through the halls to where my parents were. They smiled when they saw me and my father lead us outside. Right when we got out of the door, however, the earth started to shake again. My parents rushed me back inside and we waited it out. As the rumbling stopped, I could hear them talking._

" _It's getting worse Zor-El."_

" _I know. I fear that my brother is right about what is happening to our planet."_

" _Then what are we to do?"_

" _I don't know. I'll speak with him while we are at the party."_

" _Daddy? Mommy?" I asked up at them with big eyes. "What's wrong?"_

" _Oh, nothing darling!" claimed my mother, picking me up and placing me on her hip. "Let's get going, shall we?"_

I woke up suddenly, shooting up to a sitting position. I looked around. I was in my living room again. I was home. I was safe. It was okay. I picked up my phone. Seven missed calls from Hadley and Gavin. I should probably talk to them. I stood up, stretching my arms out. I had slept almost all day. I walked upstairs but instead of heading to my bedroom, I entered the guest bedroom.

Examining Hadley's murder board, I looked at the picture of Josh. It was his yearbook photo from junior year. He looked happy. I ran my fingers along the edge of the paper and smiled, sadly. He didn't deserve this. Neither did Thea. I needed to figure this out for them. I was connected to this all somehow I just didn't quite know what it was yet. The dreams were clearly my in. I just needed to pay a little bit more attention next time. Maybe I could see something new. Maybe I could see the killer.

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A/N: So there's four! I know I've been doing a lot of emotion but I feel like it needs to be addressed. People, who have someone they know be murder don't just get over you know? I hope y'all stay with me because we are almost half done, but we are just getting started.


	5. Revelations

A/N: Back again to slide you the halfway point of this little story, hope y'all enjoy!

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"Kara!" called a voice, dragging me out of sleep. I shot up, gasping for air. "What did you see?"

"More of the same," I groaned, falling back onto Hadley's bed. "This isn't working."

"Maybe I'm waking you up too soon?" she asked, looking over at me nervously. "I just don't want you to stay there too long."

"Hadley, we've been doing this for hours. It's not working." We'd been having me fall asleep and try to get a bearing on either the lab where Thea was being kept or the person keeping her. All it was really doing was depriving me of sleep and making me only half as traumatized as I would be if I tried to sleep soundly. "Maybe we should just give up on the dream thing."

"No, the dreams are the only thing we have that we know is concrete! You knew that Thea was gone before anyone else! You knew everything that happened to Josh before they found the body! If we want to get anything this is the only way."

"I know but-"

"No but's!" She wrapped the blanket around me as she spoke. "This time we'll go an hour. Don't focus on Thea, focus on what's happening around her. Get me some information."

I sighed and rolled over, closing my eyes. Hopefully, I would be able to actually fall asleep before the hour was up.

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 _Screaming. Thea was still screaming. This would be a lot easier if she fell unconscious or something. There was a stabbing pain somewhere in her calf. Then it went numb. Oh god. What was happening that it needed to be numbed first?_

" _Oh my god! Oh my god! Please don't do this! Please!" Tears were rolling down her face as she thrashed back and forth. Then I looked at her leg. Oh my god. They were cutting it off. I could hear the saw whirring. Jesus Christ, no._

 _I tried to breathe. It's okay, Kara. Focus on your surroundings. Okay. It's cold. Really cold. It's dark everywhere but the table, so the windows must be covered up. Unless-_

 _She screamed. Oh god. Her leg. Then the screaming stopped. She was out. That meant the pain was gone. I could focus._

"Kara!" I shot awake again. I sweating. "Did you see anything?"

I nodded slowly, trying to remember everything. "It was cold. I don't think there were any windows either."

"Anything else?" she asked hopefully.

"Yeah," I replied. Hadley grinned eagerly. "I don't think we're going to be able to go back in."

"Why not?"

"I think- I think she's dead." Hadley pulled me into a hug, trying to soothe me.

I didn't go back to sleep that night.

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I was right. Thea's body was found in the woods that morning by a couple that was hiking through. She was missing half of her leg. I threw up when I heard. School was canceled for the day to give everyone time to grieve. It was nowhere near as much time as they gave for Josh. I think that they thought that no one else was going to die. Guess they were wrong about that.

Hadley and Gavin were going to come over. We had decided to look more into the two victims and see if they had anything in common. At the moment it felt like they didn't but you never know.

My parents had left me alone all morning. I think that they were worried I would have another break down like I did with Josh. I was currently avoiding that reaction by stuffing all of my emotions down and pretending they weren't there. That tactic wasn't working too well. I heard a knock downstairs and the door open. Voices filled the house and then there were footsteps on the stairs.

"You ready to get started?" asked Gavin as he walked into my room. "We've got some deep history to sort through on these two."

"Ready when you are," I replied, rolling out of my bed. I needed a distraction.

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"God! These two have nothing in common!" complained Hadley from my bed. She was right. Our current list was very short, as in it had two items on it. They both lived in Midvale and both went to Midvale High School. That didn't narrow down the playing field at all.

"Maybe we aren't looking in the right places?" Gavin prompted. "What have we looked at so far?"

"Hobbies, athletics, religious practices, and friend groups," I reported in a dull monotone.

He tapped his chin in thought, "Grades?"

"Can't access those," Hadley called from across the room.

"Medical history?"

"Gavin that's illegal," I reminded him from the floor.

"Family history?"

No one said anything. It wasn't illegal to do family history. Hadley piped up, "I bet there's something on the internet about their families."

Gavin started typing in the laptop and Hadley and I got up to see what he could find in the library's newspaper records. He tried Josh first. Pages about his death covered the screen.

"Can you get rid of the results from when he got missing forward?" I asked. Gavin nodded and then started doing some sort of technologically inclined things. I didn't try to pay attention to what it was.

"Okay," said Gavin, clicking the top result. "Josh Butler wins the civil war football game for the Midvale Titans. That doesn't sound helpful." He moved on. "The Butler family welcome Joshua, age 8, and Dean, age 6, to their family! Be sure to wish the new family well!"

"Wait," said Hadley, "Josh was adopted?"

"When was that article published?' I asked, peering at the screen.

"The newspaper was from November 13th, 2001."

"Do you guys think that Thea Hannigan looked anything like her parents?" I asked turning to Hadley. She smiled and shook her head no. I turned back to Gavin. "Search for Thea and adoption."

He did and lo and behold that was an article from August 27th, 2001, welcoming 7-year-old Thea to the Hannigan family."

"That's not a coincidence," said Gavin triumphantly. He and Hadley high fived and I smiled at them.

"I can't believe we found the link between them- and wait, Kara, weren't you adopted in 2001?" asked Gavin.

"Oh no, it was 2002. That's when we started going to school together, remember?" I laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not the next target in some weird murder tirade. I promise."

"Well good, because that means we can celebrate!" shouted Hadley, jumping up onto my bed and dancing around. Gavin laughed at her and I cracked a smile.

"Actually," I said, stretching my arms out and yawning. "I'm pretty tired from last night so I'm kicking you guys out."

They grumbled in protest but I convinced them to leave by promising to buy them pie for a party the next time they came over. As the pulled out of my driveway, however, my smile faded. I had lied to them. I didn't want to worry them too much, they were so excited. It was pretty obvious that I was adopted. I looked absolutely nothing like my dark haired parents, but I never thought that being adopted made me special. Someone else did, though, and they were cutting through kids to find the one they wanted. What was so important about being adopted in 2001?

I climbed the stairs and went back to my bedroom. Turning off the light, I laid down without putting on my pajamas. The only special thing about being adopted in 2001 was that one couple got a bundle of joy who could headbutt a tank, fly with the birds, and run at the speed of sound, and if the person who killed Josh and Thea was looking for that kid . . . Josh and Thea died because of me.

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I rubbed my eyes, trying to keep them open. I hadn't slept a wink last night after the whole "You're part of the only thing linking the two victims of a crime together" thing. It could really put a damper on your sleeping schedule. I had managed to survive the majority of the day but it was starting to get to me. Resting my hand on my chin, my eyes started to flutter closed. Maybe I could just sleep a little bit.

In what felt like only seconds, the bell started ringing and kids started to leave. I got up too, packing my things. As I was zipping up my bag, I heard a voice.

"Kara, could I talk to you for a minute?" asked Dr. Kane, standing across the table with a perky smile. I slowly nodded. The smile was definitely fake, but my brain couldn't process why it would be.

"I don't want to keep you from your next class," I said, slinging my backpack onto my shoulder and coming to a full stand.

"Kara," she laughed, "this is the last period of the day."

"Oh, right. I forgot." She gestured to a chair near the front of the classroom and I sat in it cautiously. She leaned against the front desk, folding her arms. An intimidation tactic.

"You fell asleep in class today."

"Sorry, I didn't get any sleep last night," I replied. "It won't happen again."

"It's really fine, Kara. I was more worried about your health than the content you're missing. You excel in this class." I mumbled thanks before she went on. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, it's just with the murders and all, I've been having nightmares," I told her, tucking a hair behind my ear.

"I'm sorry to hear that, just know that I'm always here to listen if you ever need to talk." With that, she stood up fully and went back to her seat behind the desk, shooing me away. As I reached for the doorknob, I paused.

"There actually is something I'm a little worried about," I said turning around. Kane raised her eyebrows at the statement and I went on. "The murders didn't really make sense to me, so I tried looking for some type of connection between the two kids, because murders usually have a type or something, right?" She nodded at my question, looking more interested. "And I found out that they were both adopted in the same year and I'm really worried because _I_ was adopted in that year and-"

"Kara," she said, cutting off my rambling. "I'm sure the police are already well aware of that. It's going to be okay."

"But what if it isn't okay? I just-"

She grabbed my hands and looked into my eyes. "Kara, I promise. You'll be fine."

I nodded my head, trying to get everything straight. Quickly thanking Dr. Kane, I scurried out of the classroom. Pulling out my phone, I sent Hadley and Gavin an emergency meeting text. This wasn't going to go over well.

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"You what?" asked Hadley, staring at me with a blank expression. I groaned inwardly.

"I told Dr. Kane about the connection between Thea and Josh," I repeated, squeezing my hand into a fist. God, why the hell did I do that? "She said that the police probably already know so I shouldn't worry-"

"That's not what's important here. You told our prime suspect that we're investigating the murders!" She retorted, throwing her hands up as she spoke.

"When did she become our prime suspect?" I was accusing more than I was asking.

"Well," started Gavin, "we were talking after you left us here for bringing it up and it just makes a lot of sense Kara."

"I can't believe you two! I thought we were doing this as a group!" I accused again. It might have sounded rude but they had gone behind my back.

"We are, Kara. You've just been kind of moody and distant recent-"

"Well, yeah!" I exclaimed, cutting off Gavin. "You would be too if you were seeing people you know get tortured every time you went to bed!"

"Can we have one conversation without you bringing that up?" interrupted Hadley with an annoyed expression.

"What?" I asked, caught off-guard by her comment.

"Every time we talk you just complain about it! We get it! You're special! Can we move on?"

"You didn't seem to mind when you were exploiting it to further your stupid investigation!" I shot back. She was not going to sit here and degrade me.

"Guys people are staring-"

"Shut up, Gavin!" snapped Hadley, quickly turning back to me. "If you can't look at this logically maybe you should go, Kara."

"Seriously, Hadley? We just spent a night where you forced me to watch someone get tortured just so you could learn some information and I'm the one not thinking logically?"

She opened her mouth to retort. I didn't let her, grabbing my bag. "Maybe I should go."

I started to go, but a hand grabbed my wrist, pulling me back. I grabbed their wrist and squeezed, hard. I looked them in the eye and Gavin was staring back with a shocked expression.

I quickly let go and mumbled out a sorry before dashing out of the restaurant. Barely checking my surroundings, I ran and leaped up into the air as tears started to brim in my eyes. Hadley was mad at me. I hurt Gavin. Dammit, I hurt Gavin. He was just trying to help me.

Looking down, I saw forest running beneath me. Shit, I was flying too fast. Dropping altitude, I started to slow down but I misjudged the landing, sending myself crashing through the branches, bouncing across the dirt, and straight into a wall.

Using my hands to push myself up, I groaned as I sat up, leaning against the wall I hit. I sat there for a minute, making sure I could move all of my limbs and nothing was broken. After a thorough assessment, I decided I was just going to be a little sore tomorrow, and used the wall to help me stand up. Then I wondered, what the hell is a wall doing out in the middle of the woods.

Backing up, I realized that I had crashed into an old barn left behind from years ago. The wood was faded and weather-beaten. Walking around to the back, I picked up a rusty pickaxe and gave it a swing. The head popped right off went flew into a nearby bush. My eyes widened in surprise and I dropped the handle back where I had found it, continuing my loop around the barn. I came to the front and stood there for a moment, sizing up the chipping white paint on the door and the way the whole building seemed to tilt to the left. Strolling up the door I went to pull it open but found it locked. I grabbed the lock and turned it over in my hands. It was bright and shiny without the signs of weather that the barn had. What the hell was a brand new lock doing on a barn in the middle of nowhere?

I backed away as a million different thoughts started to burst in my head. Fight or not, I needed to call Hadley. An old abandoned barn being put into use around the time that two kids get tortured and murdered was suspicious, especially since it was in the same strip of woods where Thea and Josh were found. It was a coincidence I couldn't look over and just thing to get Hadley on my good side again.

A/N: I'm super sorry it took so long for this chapter, I rewrote it a million times, I hope it's a good halfway point!


	6. Detection

A/N: Back again to hit ya with chapter six! We're over the hill and in the final stretch so stay tuned!

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I paced in my bedroom, looking at my phone. I couldn't call Hadley right when I got back because she would question how I got to the barn and back so quickly and I didn't feel like explaining that it was easier to get through traffic when you could fly over it. Checking the clock, I groaned. It was only 4:30 and it would take two hours for someone on foot to get to that barn and back. I had to wait a whole hour to call her.

Giving up on pacing, I grabbed a change of clothes and walked across the hall to my bathroom to take a shower. I was covered in dust and grime from my crash earlier and needed to shower anyway. Having showered quickly, I had time to blow dry my hair so that it wasn't obvious that I had taken a shower before meeting up with Hadley. I picked up my phone, checking the time. 4:13. Close enough.

Going to my recently called list, I scrolled down to Hadley name and hit voice call, putting the speaker to my ear.

"What?" Hadley asked with an annoyed tone. At least she picked up.

"Well hello to you too," I snarkily replied.

"Kara, just tell me why you called." She sounded tired.

"Fine. After I left Sandi's I ran out into the woods to be alone, ya know? But I came across this old, creepy barn, straight out of a horror movie. Chipped paint, creaking noises, the whole nine yards."

"You found an abandoned barn, so what?"

"It wasn't abandoned, Hadley. It has a brand new lock on the door. Weird coincidence that a creepy barn is being used in the same woods where Josh and Thea were found murdered isn't it?" I asked, trying to make it sound more cool and mysterious.

"That is kind of weird . . ." She trailed off and I waited for what she was going to say next. "You aren't lying to me to get back at me or anything, right?"

"Um, no?" I replied. "If you can be at the Mill Creek Bridge in 20 minutes we can go see it."

"I'll bring Gavin along, he can drive us out farther," she answered. I could hear the excitement in her voice despite her efforts to hide it.

"See you then!" I hung up and dropped the phone on my bed, smiling. Maybe I didn't completely destroy or friendship with my moodiness.

I grabbed an old backpack from my closet and flew down the stairs into the kitchen. I grabbed flashlights, snacks, water bottles, and some of those hand warming packs. Shoving my phone into one of the front pockets, I headed out to the barn and grabbed a few more things that might be useful in case we got lost after the sun went down. As I exited the barn, I eyed my dad's worn down baseball bat. I picked it up and forced the base through one of the loops in my jeans so it hung from my side like a sword, one had to be careful when going to investigate a creepy barn that could also be the lair of a murderer.

Feeling sufficiently prepared, I started my walk to the Mill Creek Bridge. It wasn't too far from our farm, we had to cross it to get into town. Hadley, Gavin, and I would hang out under the bridge in the creek during the summer days when it was too hot to be out of the shade. I smiled as it came into sight. I could see Hadley and Gavin leaning over the railing to look at the water. Picking up the pace, I jogged up to them.

"You guys ready to see the creepiest barn ever?" I asked as I met them.

"Hell yeah!" exclaimed Gavin, pumping his fist into the air.

Hadley smirked at me as she spoke, "What's with the bat Danvers, you scared?"

"No!" I defending, hand shooting to the bat on my hip. "I've been there, remember? I thought Gavin would want it so he could feel manly."

"I'm manly!" Gavin's voice, unfortunately, cracked as he spoke. Hadley laughed and I gave him a 'really' look. His eyebrows scrunched up angrily. "Just give me the stupid bat."

We piled into the car and started on our journey to the Midvale forest. The radio played in the background, some country song that I didn't know. Gavin hummed along as we drove further out of town, the trees getting thicker and the road turning to dirt. We turned off onto the shoulder of the road. Once we had all gotten out of the car, we stared at the woods ahead of us.

"It's going to be dark soon," observed Gavin. The trees had long shadows and the sun was barely peeking out from the horizon.

"Scared?" I asked with a grin. He scowled. "I brought some flashlights we'll be fine. Now let's go."

We set off on the well-worn hiking path, Gavin pulling up the rear. From the bird's eye view, the barn was only a little ways off the path, far enough that it couldn't be seen but close enough to easily find. The only problem I was having was figuring exactly where we should turn off.

"So how did you find this place?" asked Gavin, eyeing the trees around him.

"I ran out here to be alone and caught glimpse of it through the trees so I went to investigate," I lied. Hadley scoffed behind me and I stopped. "What?"

"You spotted it? With your eyesight?" My hand shot up to my glasses. My vision had always been strangely superior, so when I took my first eyesight test my parents told me to lie a little bit so that I would seem more average. My child-self had overestimated what a little bit was and ended up with a prescription. I could always see through them fine, so I just kinda kept up with the lie.

"It's not that bad," I grumbled, pulling them off. I could see fine through them, but it was better without them. Hopefully good enough to actually spot the barn from the path like I told Gavin.

Pretending to clean my glasses on my shirt, I squinted at the trees. Gavin snorted, but I ignored him. Suddenly, the trees almost seemed to fall away, revealing the barn. I stumbled backward and rubbed my eyes. What the hell just happened?

"You okay?" asked Gavin, grabbing my shoulder to steady me.

"Yeah," I mumbled, putting my glasses back on. "I just got dizzy. The barn's really close."

The twins gave me a skeptical look, but I shrugged it off in favor of just getting to the stupid barn. Silence fell over us as I contemplated what just happened.

I could see through things now? What was next? Blowing things up with my eyes? As if my life couldn't get any weirder, I could now add _literally seeing through stuff_ to the list of weird superpowers I seemed to possess. Why was this only happening now? Was it because I had never really tried it before? Thinking about it, probably, but come on. I have enough on my plate with the whole murder possibly trying to kill me thing going on and now I could see through stuff. Fate has been a real asshole recently.

"This is where I turned off," I announced to Hadley and Gavin. They peered into the trees.

"I don't see a barn," said Hadley. I smiled, handing her a flashlight.

"Really? With your eyesight?" Gavin shouted 'ouch' and Hadley pouted, taking the flashlight.

"That was uncalled for," she stated as she turned her light on, swinging it around to get a better look at the trees. She pulled off her scarf and tied it to a branch, Gavin and I giving her quizzical looks. "What? If we decide to come back we'll be able to find it faster."

"Makes sense," chimed Gavin as he turned his flashlight on as well. "Well let's get going."

I lead the walk into the forest, trying to avoid the patches of poison ivy. I used my newfound ability to make sure we were headed in the right direction every few steps, not wanting to get lost. As we continued to walk, I could feel the tension in the air grow. We were out in the woods where two kids our age were found dead, pretty much looking for trouble. I tried to push the thoughts from my mind, focusing on the barn. Soon enough, it was looming ahead of us in all of its terrifying glory.

"Well shit," murmured Hadley. "You certainly weren't lying."

I flashed my light in her face and she slapped me on the shoulder. Gavin insisted we stopped acting immature, which sent us both into fits of laughter as Gavin wasn't the most mature one either. After we calmed down, we all split off to look around the barn. Hadley was trying to shine her light through some of the cracks in the wood to see inside while Gavin poked around at the odds and ends that we stacked outside. I stayed back, watching the surrounding area in case we were actually at a killer's hideout. I had on an odd feeling that the killer wouldn't want to be found by three teenagers messing around in the woods.

"I can't get a clear view of anything inside," announced Hadley as she walked over to the front of the barn, pulling on the lock. "Do you think there's anything around here that could break this?"

"Hadley, you are aware that that's breaking and entering right?" asked Gavin, putting down a piece of scrap metal.

"So? There are no cameras out here, what if this is where Josh and Thea were killed? Kara, you're on my side right?"

"No Hads, I'm with Gavin. If this is where Thea and Josh were killed then we should call the cops," I said, giving up in guard duty.

"We aren't going to know that unless we go in there and look around!" She pleaded, rattling the lock around in a childish manner. "Why'd you bring us out here if we aren't even going to go inside?"

"I don't know, I guess I thought it would be a good thing to help us bond you know?" I tried. Hadley saw right through me. "Fine. I brought you guys out here because I didn't want you to be mad at me anymore and since all you seem to care about these days is this stupid investigation, I thought that this would get your attention."

"Really? I only care about the investigation? Because recently, all you've cared about is yourself," she bit back harshly. Gavin winced, behind her, knowing where this was going.

"I care about other people!" I defended, folding my arms across my chest.

She laughed dryly. "Name me the last time you did something for someone else."

"Oh, I don't know, maybe bringing you out here? Spending countless hours in dream hell to find out where Thea was?"

"No, Kara, you did that for yourself. You brought us out here so that you could feel better about yourself after the fight in the diner and you only tried to find Thea so that you would stop having dreams about her, not so that she didn't die."

I opened my mouth to reply but she cut me off. "Save it, Danvers. I'm going back to the car."

She turned on her heel and disappeared into the trees we had come from. I started to go after her when I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Don't. She needs some time to herself."

I looked up at Gavin, and then down at the hand on my shoulder. His wrist was peaking out from under his denim jacket and I could see the bruises. I grabbed it and pulled his sleeve back, shining my flashlight on it. The bruises were a sharp contrast against his skin and they were shaped like a hand. _My_ hand. "Did I do this to you?"

"It's fine, Kara. It didn't even hurt." He pulled away from me and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Gavin, it's purple," I said, still staring at the wrist despite it being tucked away. He stepped towards me and I moved backward.

"Kara-"

"I have to go," I said mumbled before turning and running off. I could hear Gavin calling my name behind me but I ignored him pushing myself farther away from the barn. I kept running, not caring that I went through poison ivy or thorns. I knew I had hurt Gavin, but not that much. Not enough to bruise like that. I tore through the trees, only seeing that bruise until my feet hit the pavement. I stopped, crumbling to my knees on the asphalt.

Burying my face in my hands, I tried to cry, but the tears wouldn't come. Angrily, I hit the road, my fist going through it easily. I stared at the damage. I slowly got up and brushed my hands off on my pants. I would need to shower again when I got home.

Composing myself, I got a running start and then shot into the air. I didn't have to go through town to get home so it wasn't a problem. I was home fast. Not bothering with the door, I went through my open window and then straight for the bathroom. I peeled off the grubby clothes and started a hot shower. I needed it.

About twenty minutes later, I was wrapping a towel around myself when I heard a commotion downstairs. Peaking out the door, I saw Gavin rushing up my stairs. I came out and he grabbed me by the shoulders, not noticing my towel.

"Gavin? Where's Had-" I started but he cut me off.

"I couldn't find her. Kara. you have to help me. I went back to the car after you left but she wasn't there. I drove home, but she-she," Gavin fell apart and I stepped back, running into my room and picking up my phone. I dialed the number and it rang twice before he picked up.

"Hello?" asked a male voice from the other line.

"Sheriff Jackson, this is Kara Danvers."

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A/N: I'm a bad person? Also, I wrote this one without any breaks? I'm a hot mess who likes to have way too much drama, sorry y'all gotta deal with me.


	7. False Pretenses

A/N: I feel bad for cliffing y'all last time even though I cliff pretty much every time? I'm kind of the worst but it's fine. Hope y'all enjoy this one

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" _Happy Birthday," I called to the child in front of me before wrapping him into a tight hug. He giggled and pulled my hair. I yelped and jumped away from the one-year-old, stomping away from him. I sat by the wall, pouting._

" _What is wrong, my little sun?" asked a smooth voice from above me. I looked up to see my mother, golden hair glowing like a halo._

" _Kal pulled my hair," I grumbled, crossing my arms._

" _Where does it hurt?" She asked, reaching out to my head. I guide her hand to the spot, wincing as her fingers ghosted over it. She pulled away and offered me her hand. "Its nothing a little food won't fix, come along."_

 _I grabbed her hand and she helped me up off the floor, guiding me through the party. We were stopped by a man. He had dark hair and light eyes. His face, though smiling, was wrought with worry and pain. Dark circles under his eyes gave away the fact that he hadn't been sleeping well._

" _I'm glad that you and my brother could make it," he spoke with slow, steady words and an air of importance. "And you brought little Kara along."_

 _He smiled at me and I beamed back. He had kind eyes._

" _Alura," he said, lowering his voice. "May I speak with you and Zor-El on the veranda? It is of utmost importance."_

 _The smile on my mother's face wavered for a moment before nodding. She crouched down to my level. "Could you go play with the other children for a bit longer, sunshine? Then you and I can go eat as much as we want."_

 _My face fell but I mumbled a yes before walking off, dragging my feet as I went. They were always leaving me out of their adult conversations._

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I rubbed my eyes and looked around. I was back in my bedroom. Sighing, I rolled over onto my back. I had been scared to fall asleep and tried to stay up all night. I didn't want to see Hadley in pain. I was glad that I didn't.

Laying in my bed, I stared up at the ceiling. There was very little glow in the dark stars up there from when I was a kid. My dad had arranged them to emulate the night sky, doing his best to follow the star maps he could find in the library. They hadn't glowed in a long time but I left them up there. It felt wrong to take them down after my dad spent so much time on them.

I picked up my phone and checked the time, wishing it to be closer to dawn. Sheriff Jackson wanted to question me about our trip to the woods. My mother wanted me to get a good night's sleep.

I rolled out of bed and stumbled over to my dresser. I was wearing the same clothes from last night. After I had called the sheriff my mom had taken Gavin home and my dad had gone out to help search the woods. I had wanted to go with my dad. They made me stay home. I eyed the window. It wouldn't hurt to leave before my parents wanted me to. They would get over it.

Pulling on my army jacket, I slipped out the window and out onto the roof. The sky was overcast and glowing a pale gray due to the coming sunrise. I stood there for a moment and closed my eyes. I saw Hadley. Her pointed chin and sparkling green eyes. The red had started fading from her hair and her roots were just barely peeking out. She had told me she wanted to try purple hair next. I had told her I liked the red.

I had never told her about my powers. It was my parents' cardinal rule. Don't tell anyone you're different. I'd never really resented that rule until now. I would tear that forest apart if I could. It was my fault she got taken. If I hadn't taken her out to that barn. If I hadn't told her about my dreams. If I hadn't been different. God, I was such a screw-up.

The sound of the screen door opening pulled me from my thoughts. My eyes shot open and I realized I was floating five feet above the roof. Quietly dropping down, I pulled off my glasses and peered through the roof to see who was on our porch.

My dad sat on the porch steps staring across the yard. He didn't look like he had planned to come outside, still wearing his pajamas and a robe. He silently sipped his coffee, looking broken. I pushed my glasses back onto my nose and flew down to sit next to him.

"I thought I'd find you out here," he said softly without turning to look at me.

"Were you looking for me?" I asked quietly. He shrugged.

"Not particularly," he answered, taking another sip from his mug. "I just wanted to think for a minute."

I nodded in agreement. We sat for a moment before I spoke up. "I was going to go see Sheriff Jackson."

"I know."

I bit my lip. "You could come if you want."

"Nah, kiddo," he replied, starting to stand up. I shot up to help him but he shooed me away. "I would only slow you down. I should get back inside anyway."

I smiled and thanked him. He shuffled into the house. I turned a got a light running start into the air. I needed some answers.

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I sat in the waiting room at the police station. It was extremely boring with only a few beige, leather chairs and a sad potted plant to keep one occupied. The officer on duty, Jay Moore, sat at his desk across the room doing paperwork. I tapped my fingers against the arm of my chair and watched Officer Moore scribble words onto the paper he was working on. I had accidentally left my phone in my room but Sheriff Jackson was supposed to be here any minute so I couldn't go back and get it.

Officer Moore looked up from his desk, "Don't you have something to do while you wait?"

"Shouldn't you have some magazines for me to read or something?" I asked sarcastically. He went back to his paper, grumbling about kids these days need to learn respect. I sighed and turned to look out the window.

The sun had come up over the horizon and the town was starting to wake up. It was a school day today but I didn't think I'd be able to go. I checked down the street, looking for Sheriff Jackson's patrol car. Focusing harder, I forced the buildings to fade out of my vision, but I couldn't find the cruiser. I turned back around, tempted to fly out and find the Sheriff myself.

Suddenly, radio static cut through the air and I jumped out of my seat. "Jackson to Moore, I'm just coming into town, over."

"We're patiently awaiting your arrival, over," replied Officer Moore into his radio.

A few minutes later, I was sitting inside Sheriff Jackson's office. The man was pouring himself a cup of coffee. He looked disheveled and tired, dirt on his boots and foliage in his hair. I didn't look much better from my last few sleepless weeks.

The sheriff sighed and slowly sat down across from me. I lightly smiled at him. Sheriff Jackson was usually a pretty scary guy, tall, rough features, and a stoic expression the majority of the time. Right now, however, he just looked sad. He reminded me of my dad this morning.

"Okay Miss Danvers," he started, putting down his cup and folding his hands. "I know that this just happened last night but we need to know all the details as soon as possible. Tell me everything that transpired before you learned of Miss Matthews disappearance."

I took a deep breath. "I had gone out there for some alone time earlier that day and I found the old barn. I brought Hadley and Gavin out there to check it out. While we were there Hadley wanted to go inside but I thought it was a bad idea. We fought and she went back to the car. I went the opposite direction and jogged home. I was getting out of the shower when Gavin came in and told me what happened. Then I called you."

"Why was this barn so interesting to you?" he asked.

"Well, we were sort of investigating Thea and Josh's murders on our own and we thought a weird abandoned barn in the middle of the woods where they were found would be a good place to look around in."

Sheriff Jackson raised his eyebrows. "You were investigating the murders? With what evidence?"

I shifted in my seat. I was pretty sure telling the Sheriff about my dreams wouldn't end well. "Well, um, I had a dream about Josh being tortured after he went missing and when I told Hadley and Gavin about it we all just kind of clicked on the whole mystery solving thing, ya know?" He kept looking at me. I hadn't answered his second question. "We didn't really have a lot. Just what was released to the public by the police and th-" I stopped myself. If I told Sheriff Jackson about AJ's story about the blonde woman I'd be breaking his trust. I had promised him I wouldn't tell the police. This was different though. Thea was dead and Hadley was missing. I couldn't take the risk anymore. "That the night Josh went missing someone saw him with a blonde woman."

The Sheriff looked surprised. "Who?"

"I promised them I wouldn't say who-"

"Miss Danvers, you are aware that by not telling me who told you this is you are impeding a police investigation and you can get in a lot of trouble?"

I bit my lip. "AJ Samuels."

Sheriff Jackson scribbled the name down on a notepad. AJ was going to kill me. He looked back up at me. "How long have you known Hadley Matthews?"

"Since second grade when I was adopted," I easily answered.

"You said that you and Miss Matthews fought right before she disappeared. Did you fight often?"

"Not until the past few days. We had a few fights about the investigation but- wait. You don't think I have something to do with this do you?" I asked loudly. The sheriff winced.

"We are just covering all of our bases Miss Danvers." I leaned back in my seat, eased by his explanation.

"Sorry, I've just been on edge recently," I offered an apology.

"We all are," he replied, looking down. Silence filled the room for a moment before he got up out of his chair started for the door. "Well, thank you for your time, Miss Danvers. If we have any more questions we will contact you."

I stood up and he started to usher me out of the door. "Wait!" I said, turning back to face him. "Did you find anything? In the barn?"

"No, Miss Danvers. We searched every nook and cranny and it was just a normal barn." He smiled sadly and I thanked him before leaving. When Hadley came back she was going to be really disappointed about that. If she ever talked to me again after getting her kidnapped.

As I walked down the street, it came to my mind that I didn't tell the Sheriff about how Thea and Josh were adopted in the same year. I guess it wasn't relevant anymore. Hadley went missing and she wasn't adopted at all. At least I didn't need to be worried about being the intended victim of a teenage murder tirade.

With that comforting thought in mind, I picked up the pace, wanting to get away from the town so I could fly the rest of the way home. The late January air might make me feel more at peace.

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I bit my lip, studying the shading I had put on the face on my sketch pad. The eyes were right but I was making the cheeks too narrow. Whipping out my eraser, I went to work. I was drawing Hadley. I had tried doing something else, but Hadley was the only thing I could think of. Before I could return to sketching Hadley's face, I heard a car coming up the driveway. My mom was at the Matthews' house and my dad was out searching the woods (which I was still banned from doing), so neither of them should be coming home just yet.

Curious, I put down my sketch pad and crept out of my room and down the stairs. I snuck up to the window and peered through the curtains. A black, four-door sedan I didn't recognize was parking where my mom usually did. The driver's door opened and I ducked down, not wanting to be seen spying.

I was crouching underneath the window frame when I finally remember that I could actually see through walls. I considered shoving my face through one when there was a knock on the door. I scurried to my and over to the door. I definitely wasn't expecting who I saw.

Dr. Elizabeth Kane stood on my porch in all of her red-headed, kind of scary glory. She smiled at me a tad awkwardly. "Oh, Kara! I didn't expect you to be here. I thought you'd be out searching the woods."

I leaned against the door frame, trying to block the inside of my house from her vision. "No my parents won't let me. Why aren't you out there?"

Her nervous smile slipped into a kind one, well, it changed in the one that read as 'I love puppies' but felt like 'I will get rid of your puppy like the wicked witch of the west'. It was unsettling. "Well, I just wanted to come by and give your parents my condolences. I know that you and Hadley were best friends."

"Are." I corrected. "We are best friends."

"Right, sorry," she apologized. She tried to scan the room behind me, which was unfortunately very easy for her due to the height that she had on me. "Are your parents home?"

"No, they're out helping the Matthews," I replied, trying to close the door more to indicate I was done with the conversation. Teachers shouldn't go to their students' houses, even if their best friend was just kidnapped by a murderer. Thankfully, Dr. Kane either got the hint or decided I wasn't useful anymore.

"Well tell your parents I send my well-wishes," she said. Her smile seemed more forced now. I nodded in reply and she turned to go. I stayed at the door, watching her climb into her car and drive off. I even gave a wave as she went.

As she disappeared from view, I closed the door and locked it behind me. I wasn't a complete idiot. When someone, even if they're your teacher, shows up at your house and asks if your parents are home, you take some cautionary measures. Sighing, I slid my back down the door until I was sitting on the floor. Hadley was gone and I was sitting here worrying about my teacher just trying to be a nice person.

I crawled over to the couch, not wanting to actually walk. I pulled myself up and looked around, contemplating picking up and reading the copy of _The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe_ that my dad had left on the table. Not wanting to punish myself too much, I grabbed the remote, flipping to Wheel of Fortune. Hadley hated when I watched game shows, but right now I needed something that felt normal to calm me down.

A/N: Well, there's chapter seven! I hope it did what I wanted it to, despite the kind of filler-y feel it has. I promise the next chapter will get a lot more action. Until next time lovelies!


	8. Subsurface

A/N: Howdy y'all! We're getting mighty closes to the end of this part of Kara's story, only two more chapters after this! (And then two more books after that but bear with me). Notes about that big ol' absence I took are at the bottom. I hope y'all like this chapter.

Warning: Use of the f-word (spooky I know)

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I sat out in the living room, staring at the wall and fiddling with a throw pillow. I had thought that because I didn't see her last night I would be fine. That they wouldn't do anything to her. I didn't think I'd have to see her crying and screaming and calling out for help. Calling out for me. She said my name. She begged me to help her, to make it stop, and I couldn't do anything but watch. I shuddered. If I didn't stop thinking about it I was going to dig myself a hole I couldn't get out of.

Pushing the pillow away from me, I stood up and walked slowly to the kitchen. Everything felt surreal, the pale gray light flooding in from the window was making the room feel like an entirely different world. I stumbled over to the coffee pot and started it. The breakfast table looked inviting, and soon enough I was sitting there, staring out the window.

"Kara?" asked a soft voice from behind me. I turned to see my mother, still in her robe, dark red hair falling out of its ponytail and framing her face. She looked tired.

I didn't respond to her, but she understood and came and sat down next to me. We sat there for a long time, just thinking. Then, I did something I didn't think I would do.

"Mom I think that they're looking for me," I whispered loud enough to hear. Her face contorted into a look of shock and she pulled me into a hug. As she pet my hair and held me close, I could feel the small drops of water hitting my scalp. She was crying. I think I was too. My vision was blurry and nothing felt real anymore.

I'm not sure how long my mom and I stayed liked that, but eventually, we pulled apart and she looked me in the eyes, holding my face in her hands. "Kara Danvers, I promise that nothing is going to happen to you. We'll sort this all out after school. You're father and I will tell you everything. Okay?'

I nodded, sniffling as I placed my hands over hers, squeezing them as assurance that it was okay. I wasn't sure if I was telling it to her or to myself. She slipped away, bringing herself back up to a full stand, wiping the tears from her eyes. My mother hated crying. After the events of the past few weeks, I was starting to hate crying too.

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I climbed the stairs to the second floor of Midvale High School, ignoring the stares I was getting from everyone I passed. I looked pretty disheveled, scuffed up converse, the jeans I wore yesterday and an old red hoodie that had seen better days. Not to mention my unruly hair and the bags that were under my eyes. Everyone was looking at me with pity. It was pity that I didn't want.

Pushing through the halls, I finally found my locker and put in the familiar combination _27-32-15._ "Regularity is good," my mom had told me on the drive to school. "If you don't go to school now you might never end up going back."

She was right. Since Hadley went missing, I hadn't wanted to do anything but find her, a task that was officially off-limits thanks to my parents' rules. There would be too many questions. _Where did you find her? How did you find her? Were you able to find her because you took her in the first place?_ I had never hated having superpowers more than I did right now. I felt utterly useless.

I trudged silently into Kwan's classroom for history. We were falling behind in the curriculum after all of our days off, we had started the month with the Gilded Age and we had barely got halfway through it. I had never been happier that I hadn't decided to join the AP US History class.

As I pulled out my notebook and nestled my phone next to it, my eyes trailed to the empty seat that used to belong to Thea. I smiled, remembering how she had told me Dr. Kane was super hot on my first day back from break. We had been friends but we had never really been close. She had had her group of good friends and I had had mine.

While on the thought of my friends, I subconsciously turned to Gavin's seat, expecting to find it empty. To my surprise, Gavin Matthews was at school after his sister's disappearance and he was staring right at me. His features were pulled into a look I had seen in the mirror a lot recently. _Desperation_. Before I had too much time to dwell on Gavin, the class bell rang and Kwan started lecturing.

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After class, I moved quickly through the hallways. Gavin had been staring me down the whole class period and I just knew he was going to ask me about Hadley. Ask if I dreamed about her last night. I couldn't bear to tell him. Getting to class before he could corner me in the hallway was my best option. The world seemed to be playing against me because soon enough I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Look Gav-" I cut myself off as I saw who had stopped me. AJ Samuels stood there facing me. His dark hair was tousled and the bags under his eyes mirrored mine.

"Why?" His voice was a hoarse whisper. He'd been crying. "Why did you tell them."

"AJ-"

"You promised that you wouldn't." His brown eyes seemed to darken with every word. "Do you know how fast word spreads in this town? How many people know? The stares I've been getting all day?"

"AJ I swear I wouldn't have told them, but Hadley was gone and-"

"And you thought betraying my trust would help find her?" AJ wasn't yelling but it was loud. Loud enough to start to draw a crowd to watch us.

"Sorry that I wasn't scared to help to police find my best friend," I bit back. His jaw hardened. I'd gone too far. He threw himself at me, bringing us both to the floor. His fist flew towards my face. I threw up my arm in defense. A sickening crack echoed through the small hallway.

For a moment, nothing happened. I took the opportunity to scramble backward and assess the situation. AJ sat on his knees, cradling his fist with his body. My peers were staring at me with wide eyes. I had broken AJ's wrist without even trying. Oh god. This was not good. I needed to move. Before I could, someone else did.

Gavin broke through the crowd and quickly looked between AJ and I. We met eyes. I tried to send a message with my look _please help me._

"Alright everyone!" he called, addressing the crowd. "Show's over! Dean, take AJ to the nurse."

People started to move again, grumbling about the fight not being very exciting and Gavin being a goody-two-shoes. I got looks from my classmates as they walked by. Disapproval. Astonishment. Encouragement. Fear.

"Are you okay?" asked Gavin, lightly touching my elbow. I nodded. "Let's get out of here."

Gavin lead me by my elbow. I didn't pay attention to where we were going. All I could think of was the sound of AJ's wrist snapping. The silence that followed. The fear in their eyes of the students who walked past me. I could lie to myself and say they were scared of my fighting skills, but I hadn't done anything. They were just scared of me. My parents would have never guessed one punch would be what revealed my secret to my classmates.

Oh god, my parents were going to kill me.

"Kara!" Gavin called, ripping me from my thoughts. We were outside now, cold wind whipping my hair around in its haphazard ponytail. I looked at Gavin, red eyes, cracked lips, and pale complexion. Then it hit me.

"I'm so sorry, Gavin," I mumbled, pulling him into a tight embrace. Here I'd been worrying about people discovering my secret when Gavin had lost his twin sister. "I've been so selfish," I said, pulling back, "I just- I haven't been thinking of what you've been going through at all and-"

"Kara." He cut me off. I inspected his expression. I knew what was coming next.

"Gavin-"

"Have you seen her?" He asked. He'd clearly been waiting to ask me until no one else would hear it. Now was the perfect time to interrogate me about Hadley's safety.

"Have you seen her?" He repeated. I looked at the ground. I couldn't possibly tell him what I'd dreamed of last night. The screaming. The tears. The pain. "Kara answer me."

I looked up and met his eyes. Tears were starting to form. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me, silently pleading with me to answer him. I looked away, unable to look him in the eye, unable to speak. Gavin let go of my shoulders.

"No," he whispered softly as he dropping to the ground. His shoulders shook with sobs as he kept repeating the word. Standing over him, I was unsure what to do. I slowly moved downwards till I was kneeling next to him. I reached out, lightly placing my fingers on his back. He was shaking. Suddenly, he whipped around, lashing out at me. The sound of his hand hitting my cheek rung throughout the street.

"No, Kara, you don't get to pretend to be sorry! You were the whole reason we were out there! You could've saved her but you didn't! Now my sister is going to die and it's all your fucking fault!" I opened my mouth to speak but he cut me off. "Don't. Just get away from me."

I took a step back, shocked. The tears were falling from Gavin's swollen eyes like a river. I could feel my own tears running down my face and over the place that should've been stinging from the slap but felt perfectly normal. "I'm sorry."

Then I turned away and leaped up into the air.

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I found myself sitting on top of that old barn in the woods. I hadn't been meaning to come here, but it was where I ended up. Knees to my chest, head buried between my knees, I tried to breathe in the forest air. I could smell the rust, old wood, and the surrounding trees. It was peaceful. Finding quiet in a place that had caused me so much turmoil in the last few days.

I just- I couldn't figure out why I could see them all hurting. Sure, I'd always had powers, but nothing like this. The only dreams I ever had were of my parents, but now those were interrupted by the people I knew being tortured. None of what was going on made any sense and it made me so angry.

I let out a scream and slammed my fist into the roof. I crashed straight through, just like it had on my roof the night Josh went missing. It felt good. My heart was telling me to tear the entire barn down. I knew it wouldn't do anything to help, but it wasn't going to make anything worse either.

Letting myself go, I grabbed the hole I had made and pulled, ripping off a huge chunk of the roof. I threw it aside and kept going, tearing off piece after piece until the entire roof was only ruins surrounding the old barn. Then I laughed. For the first time since Josh went missing, I felt free.

I kept going, ripping apart the walls and throwing aside heavy farm equipment. It felt amazing like I was really embracing myself. For the first time, I didn't have to pretend I couldn't lift a semi or fly around the whole globe. In my excitement, I flew up to an old rusted tractor and slammed into it, knocking it over.

The sound of metal on metal filled the air as the tractor fell. I landed on top, breathing heavily. Then, I saw why the tractor had made that sound.

"What the hell?" I mumbled as I stared at a set of tracks that the tractor had been resting on. Resting between the two rails was a small man hold that was much newer than the surrounding barn. It looked new, just like the lock on the front door had been. I jumped down from my perch on the tractor, staring at the manhole. What the hell was down there? Focusing hard, I tried to see past the dirt, but my vision was impeded by something I couldn't see through.

My fingers gripped the holes in the small metal plate and I easily lifted it off, tossing it behind me with a loud clang. It was dark, but I could see metal rungs leading to whatever was down there. Part of my mind told me to call Sheriff Jackson, but the other part told me that I didn't have that long, and if Hadley was down there I needed to get her now. Making up my mind, I took the leap of faith into the darkness that waited for me.

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A/N: Oh gosh I'm almost done with this one? Well, I promised answers and here they are. School has been really hard recently, but with the new year, I've decided that I need to finish the things I've started, so I'm trying to wrap this up before I move on to new things. I'm terribly sorry for being gone for so long, but the conclusion awaits and I'm so excited for you guys to see it!


	9. Breaking Point

A/N: Final confrontation anyone? Has it been a year since I last updated? Kinda! Sorry about that, but life gets crazy sometimes. I've actually had this written for a few months but I've never been happy with it. I'm still not quite there, but I gotta accept it how it is at this point and move on. Thankfully this time, I have the story finished and am going to upload the rest all at once.

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My footsteps echoed as I made my way down the metal hallway. My arms were outstretched, feeling on either side of the wall for any possible turns. It was pitch black and I didn't want to end up getting lost or missing something important. My fingers ran across the smooth wall as I slowly made my way down the hallway. I was unsure of what- or who- was waiting in the darkness, and I wasn't risking running face first into anything.

Unfortunately, I still managed to slam face first into the far end of the dark hallway. Barely fazed, I reached my hands out, trying to feel around for a doorknob or something. I mumbled curses under my breath as my hands ran over the smooth surface over and over again. There was no way that this creepy, underground hallway lead to nothing.

"This can't be happening," I groaned, slamming my fist into the wall. A low hum pierced the air as the hallway began to shake slightly. I moved away from the walls in surprise, had a security system kicked in? Suddenly, the hallway lit up, a faint green light revealing the stark white walls of the hallway.

Although my head started to spin, I began to look around. The newfound light revealed a small keypad on the wall that I had missed. I took a step towards it and lurched forward, grabbing the wall for support. Pushing the dizziness to the back of my mind, I inspected the keypad. It wasn't anything special, a metal plate screwed into the wall with the standard twelve buttons and a small "C" logo in the bottom right corner.

Suddenly, I heard a noise behind me and I whipped around. There was a flash of red, and then blackness.

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I woke up slowly, unwilling to open my eyes. My head was pounding and I felt groggy. Is this what normal people felt like all the time? Slowly, I tried to sit up only to be whipped back into place like a rubber band. My eyes shot open and I let out a half-hearted yelp from the pain. A bright light was shining directly in my face and I was too disoriented to think straight. I tried to pull my hands to my eyes to shade them from the intrusive light only to find myself further restrained. Why did everything hurt?

"How's the head treating you?" asked a feminine voice. Unable to move my head and find who was talking, I resolved to stay silent and close my eyes again. "Silent treatment, huh? That's fair. I did kidnap you."

I tried to focus, pushing the headache to the back of my mind. I needed to figure out where I was and how I was going to get out of there.

"You must have a million questions, Kara," said the voice again. I recognized it but my brain refused to function properly. "I really am sorry about what happened to Joshua and Theodora. They were good kids, but it's all worth it now that I've found you."

"Who are you?" I said through gritted teeth. She was right. I did have a million questions on the tip of my tongue, but I didn't want her to know that she was right.

"I thought you already knew. Your friend seemed to know all about me-"

Suddenly, I was spun away from the light to face the woman. It took my eyes a moment to adjust, but when they did I recognized her.

Dr. Elizabeth Kane stood across from me, red hair framing her pretty face. There was a small table next to her covered with devices that'd I'd seen in my dreams. That I'd seen her use in my dreams. I could only see half of the room from my new vantage point and from what I could tell, Dr. Kane was absolutely insane. Papers were everywhere, there was a board filled with her notes and little red strings connecting things to each other. There was a desk filled with stacks of manilla folders stamped with a "C" logo.

"Why?" I softly whispered, my eyes scanning over the pictures of Thea and Josh on her wall. I knew I didn't have all the pieces to the puzzle. I knew was that this all had something to do with the fact that I'm not normal. I knew was that this was all my fault.

"You're going to have to be a bit more specific than that, dear," replied Kane as she moved to her table and started preparing a needle.

"Why Josh?" I asked, watching her work. The redhead sighed.

"Well, he just made the most sense. Athletic, golden boy, and adopted at just the right time for it to be him. So I got my wig and put on my best dumb, blonde, cougar routine. I knew it wasn't him after the first night he was here, but there was no point in letting a live body go to waste. It wasn't like I could let him back out into the world after kidnapping him. So I got a few results for some of my side projects."

I stayed silent, still trying to process that she had tortured him even after she knew he wasn't special. Kane continued to speak. "Then you asked me about Josh's death and I thought you were on my trail. I overheard Theodora mention in class that she never knew her biological parents. When I looked into her background it just fit so well. Then I happened to drive past while she was jogging and it just seemed so perfect. It was too bad, I really thought she might've been the one."

"Why did you cut off her leg?"

"I left Josh's body a little too scientifically tampered with. I needed a new twist to throw the police for a loop. Now, when you came to me and practically admitted that you thought the killer was looking for you I was overjoyed. I was on my way here to do some more research when I found you and your friends snooping around. I knew I had to send a message and Hadley was stopped at that tree trying to untie her scarf. It's a miracle what a log to the head can do on such short notice."

"Is Hadley-"

"Alive? Yes. I can't really say for how long though. I tried to question her about you to see how much she knew. She is a very loyal friend, it took until I broke out the electric shocks for her to tell me about your dreams of my activities. That was when I knew that you were the one. I'd been broadcasting my experiments live to my superiors and your sleeping state must've been able to pick it up."

"You're superiors?" I asked, confused. It made more sense as I looked around the space. You didn't need such extensive note work when you're just a deranged woman. Why else would she quit her job to move here unless she was getting paid to do it?

"Why of course, Kara. You think I hurt children for fun?" She focused back on the needle she started before I caught her in her monologues. "Honestly, Kara, I thought you were smarter than that. We've been looking for you ever since you crashed on this planet. It only took us so long because your alien comrade kept interrupting our plans."

There it was. The one word I had been avoiding for her whole life. Alien. I always knew I wasn't human. When I woke up in the hospital at six years old speaking a language no one knew and not understanding a thing anyone said I knew. When I developed powers I knew. When I was tucked in my parents every night and dream of a different life with parents who actually looked like me I knew. When I caught myself staring longingly at the stars I knew. I never wanted to admit it. Now, with Dr. Kane standing over me, a glowing green needle in hand I knew that I was going to die before I could ever learn anything more about myself.

"It really is a shame that I have to kill your friend after I'm done with you. She really was in the wrong place at the wrong time," Kane said, tapping the side of the needle. I couldn't let her hurt anyone else. Especially not Hadley. I began to struggle hard against my restraints and scream as loud as I could. Hadley was still alive somewhere and I was not going to let Kane kill her because of me. Dr. Kane tried to grab my arm and shove the needle in, but I let out a primal yell and pulled as hard as I could away from her. The metal holding down my wrist snapped. Kane's eyes went wide in shock as I started to rip myself free. She scrambled out of my sight and I broke the restraints off my ankles. I turned around to face her, a look of pure rage in my eyes.

"Don't take a step closer or your friend is going to get a bullet through her brain," called out Kane. She was standing there, holding a gun to Hadley's head. Hadley was barely awake, mascara smudged around her eyes, a gag in her mouth, wrists and ankles tied together. I softened, dropping out of my rage. "That's right, Kara, nice and easy. Now you are going to walk over to that table and try to inject yourself with that needle. If it doesn't break through your skin, you can just swallow it. Just get it down, please."

I slowly moved back to the table, trying to think of a plan. Some way Hadley and I could both get out of this room alive. I reached for the needle, lifting it up to show Kane that I picked up the right object. I wasn't sure what was inside, but I had the feeling that it was going to subdue me long enough for Kane to take me back to her superiors and if I took it there was no chance I was getting out of here with Hadley. With no options left, I dropped the needle.

The needle hit the ground. My foot reached out crushed the cartridge underneath my converse. Kane moved the gun away from Hadley's head. I flew towards her as she remained. I closed my eyes when the shot rang out, waiting for the pain. When it didn't come, I slowly reopened them.

Kane was looking at me, shocked. I reached up to my chest where I had felt the bullet hit me. There was a small hole in my shirt but the shiny piece of metal sat at my feet. I looked back up to Kane. She quickly moved the gun back to Hadley. My vision started to turn red as a look of fear overtook Kane's face. The room was burning. The gun clattered against the concrete floor.

Slowly, the world returned to its normal colors. Kane was on her knees, clutching her hand to her chest. I began to run to Hadley only to realize that I was floating a foot above the ground. I dropped to my knees in front of her and ripped the gag out before pulling at the ties on her ankles and wrists.

"Kara?" She mumbled, looking at me. There was a gash on her forehead that needed medical attention and there was too much dried blood on her face.

"Don't worry, just try to go back to sleep," I whispered before pressing a kiss to her hairline. Hadley closed her eyes and leaned forward into me. Bundling my best friend up into my arms, I headed for the door.

"You can't just leave me here," called Kane's shaky voice from the floor. I looked back at her. Her teeth were clenched, breathing through her mouth as she tried to calm herself down. "You can't."

I didn't humor her with a reply. Turning back around, I kicked the door and it burst off its hinges. Lifting off the ground and flying up the tunnel with the ladder was difficult since Hadley and I didn't exactly fit, but we squeezed back onto the surface.

The cold morning air hit me like a brick, but I pushed it from my mind. Hadley's face looked even paler under proper lighting and now that I could fully see her head wound, I regretted letting her fall back asleep. I pushed harder, barreling as fast as I could back into town. I touched down outside the hospital, people on the street staring at me with open mouths. Paying no attention to them, I rushed inside the emergency room and was immediately met by physicians.

"She has a really bad head wound and she's lost a lot of blood." A male nurse tried to take her from my arms and I threw him a firm look that said 'I'm stronger than you'. "Where can I put her down?"

A gurney was wheeled out and I laid Hadley on it. Medical personnel pushed her back through the double doors and I started to follow before I remembered that I had more problems than if Hadley was going to be alright. I needed to do something about Dr. Kane. Ignoring the stares from the other people waiting inside the lobby, I ran back outside. Starting toward the Sheriff's station, I ran as fast as my feet would take me.

"Sheriff Jackson!" I called out as I almost pushed the door down. Officer Moore quickly stood up, hand on his gun as the sheriff came out of his office.

"Kara?" he asked staring at me. "What the hell is going on?"

"There's a bunker underneath that old barn. Dr. Kane was using it. I left her down there injured but she still could've left. We have to go arrest her." Sheriff Jackson was looking at me like he hadn't heard a word I had just said.

"We aren't doing anything until you tell me what's going on, Miss Danvers. You've been missing for the last twenty-four hours." He squinted at me. "Is that your blood?"

"Dr. Kane, the new teacher at the high school. She killed Thea and Josh and just tried to kill Hadley and I. She's insane and I left her down in the bunker that was hidden under the barn to rush Hadley to the hospital."

Sheriff Jackson slowly nodded his head trying to process the words he was hearing. "Moore, go start the car and get all units headed out to the barn, I'll be there in a second." Officer Moore ran out to the patrol car and Sheriff Jackson came up and placed his hands on my shoulders. "You did good, Kara. There are some extra clothes in my office. Why don't you go get changed and make yourself a cup of coffee? I'll send your parents down here while I head out to the barn"

I nodded slowly and he let go, headed out to the car. The siren starting up sounded muffled to me, which was strange because normally everything sounded incredibly clear. I took a step towards the office and suddenly became very aware of a sharp pain in my foot. Stumbling to a chair, I lifted my foot up to see several glowing green bits of glass from the syringe stabbed into the sole of my shoe. I leaned down to take my shoe off to get the glass out but leaned forward into darkness instead

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A/N: Wow? There's chapter nine? I'm still not completely happy with how it turned out, but y'all really deserve a conclusion.


	10. Closure

A/N: Here it is! The final chapter of Supergirl! I'm so excited to wrap this one up. I've definitely rewritten parts of this chapter a few times and I'm a lot happier with how this one ended up than I am with chapter 9. This chapter is also really long, so sorry about that.

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" _Kara, we need to go now," said my mom. I only had one shoe on. Dad was standing in the doorway of my bedroom, with a look on his face I didn't see very often. Fear._

" _Alura we don't have time," he said putting everything in his hands into hers before picking me up. We were moving quickly and I was still tired. I wanted to be in my nice warm bed, not out in the cold morning air._

" _Daddy where are we going?" I asked, trying to rub the sleep out of my eyes. Mom looked at me worriedly from behind us._

" _We're going to your uncle's lab, Kara. We'll be there soon, don't worry, just go back to sleep." I yawned and snuggled into his shoulder. Maybe I could fall back asleep._

 _Suddenly, the world began to shake. My mom tripped behind us, everything she was carrying scattering across the ground. She called out my father's name and he turned around to help her to her feet. They held their hands together tightly and began to run. I was bouncing around too much. People were screaming all around us. I started to cry. My dad passed me into my mom's arms, hoping to soothe me but it didn't work. I continued to scream and kick until we entered my uncle's lab._

" _Jor-El!" called my father into the dark space. Everything shuddered around us. "Jor-El are you here?"_

 _No response came and my parents rushed toward the stairs, taking us to the top floor of the building. Something boomed not too far from us. My mom put me on the ground and my parents rushed around, trying to prepare what looked like a tiny spacecraft. My mom tore a banner off the wall and wrapped it around me like a blanket before picking me up and putting me in the craft._

" _Oh, my little sun, I love you so much," she cooed, tears filling her big blue eyes. Her golden hair was a mess, but she still looked incredibly beautiful. She brought her hands to her face and tried to wipe away the tears. "Your father and I love you more than anything you could ever know, my sun, never forget that."_

" _Why're you crying," I asked, trying to reach for her. I needed to feel her warmth underneath my fingers. I wanted her to feel safe._

" _Alura, we don't have much time," said my dad. I couldn't see him from where I was. Everything was so loud and happening so fast._

" _What's going on?" I cried out. My mom looked off to the side before reaching into the craft and pulling me back out into her arms. She started sobbing as she held onto me for dear life and I bawled with her. I felt my dad's arms fold around us but I didn't feel safe this time. My dad peeled off of us and my mom gingerly put me back in the craft. She cradled my face in her hands and smiled at me before placing a warm kiss on my forehead._

" _Mommy, I'm scared," I whispered, searching her eyes for comfort._

" _I know," she whispered in return, "but I promise everything will be alright,"_

 _She stepped back into my father's arms as a shield of glass rose up between my parents and I. As it clicked closed and red lights began to flash, my mom pressed her face into my dad's chest. Everything started to feel groggy but I tried to keep my eyes open. A few silent tears rolled down my dad's cheeks, an unspeakable sadness filling his eyes. He mouthed an 'I love you' to me before my eyelids fluttered closed._

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The world around me suddenly flashed back into place as I woke up. Gasping for air, my eyes darted around the room. I was home. Pale pink walls, clutter on my desk, and a ceiling full of stars. Tucking loose strands of hair behind my ears, I tried to remember how I got back to my room, but my mind couldn't quite find it. Everything had been happening so fast. I had no idea where to start.

I pushed the comforter away and swung my legs to the side of the bed. A dull ache started up in my left foot as it brushed against the floor. What did I do to hurt it? I crossed my left leg over my knee to inspect it but there was no evidence of anything being wrong. Rubbing my eyes, I fully stood up only to drop back down from the pain in my foot. Gritting my teeth, I tried again, half limping out of my room in search of my parents.

My attempt to hobble down the stairs didn't go well. I tumbled down them and crashed into the front entryway. Before I could get back up, my rushed in from the kitchen, my mom kneeling down next to me with my dad right behind her.

"Sweetie, are you are okay? Did you trip?" I nodded my head as she helped me sit back up. I thanked her as I pulled myself to a standing position, leaning on the wall so I didn't put any weight on the sole of my foot. My dad quickly took notice of my awkward standing position.

"Does your foot still hurt, kiddo? You had some pretty gnarly glass stuck in there." I remembered stomping on Dr. Kane's needle. Had that been with my left foot? It must've been or else it wouldn't be the one that hurt. "Kara?"

My dad's voice pulled me from my own head. I sunk down onto the stairwell. "Sorry. Yeah, it still does."

"Kara," said my mom, sitting on the step next to me and squeezing my hand between hers, "What's going on?"

I squeezed back and took a deep breath. Everything felt weird and wrong, and from what I could remember from the past few days didn't even seem real. The last few weeks didn't even feel real. I took another breath.

"Hadley is really hurt because of me." My voice was already starting to break. "We were all being stupid and trying to play detective. Something went really wrong and now she's in the hospital."

"It's not your fault, sweetie," cooed my mom, trying to pull me into an embrace, I pushed her away and stood up, fire in my voice. "Yes, it is. She only got hurt because Dr. Kane wanted to hurt me. I'm just a huge freak and Kane figured it out. She hurt Hadley and she killed Thea and Josh and it's all because of me-"

"You gotta calm down kiddo." My dad grabbed my shoulders and I realized that I wasn't on the ground anymore. I tried to slow my breathing but it just kept coming faster and faster. The world was starting to turn red and my heart was trying to jump out of my chest. "You gotta slow down, Kara. Everything is going to be fine. We talked to the Matthews' this morning Hadley is going to be fine. You're going to be okay, I promise."

I tried to choke back a sob. Collapsing into my dad's arms, I let the dam break. He rubbed my back in slow circles as I tried to calm down to no avail. I felt my mom's arms wrap around us and we all held on to each other for a long time.

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The hospital waiting room wasn't as bland as I remembered it to be. I had come a lot as a kid when my dad hurt his back in a work accident. The receptionists were practically angels, dealing with me when my mom was talking to doctors, always trying to sneak back into places I wasn't allowed to be. That had been back when I could barely talk straight and communicated mostly through repeatedly hitting the person I wanted to talk to and pointing towards what I wanted.

I nervously twisted a strand of my hair, watching the entrance to the patient wing. Mrs. Matthews was supposed to come out and tell me when Hadley was ready to see me. She'd gone in ten minutes ago. I had considered listening in on them but I wanted Hadley to have her privacy. It wasn't my place. I didn't know if she remembered what happened but I wouldn't blame her for not wanting to see me if she did. Being kidnapped and seeing your best friend fly is a lot to take in. Still, waiting was hard. Strange circumstance or not.

"Kara?" said I voice. My eyes shot up to see Mrs. Matthews standing in the open archway, a soft smile trying to uplift her tired features. I frowned. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," I stood up, brushing on existent dust off of my lap. "Yeah, I'm ready."

Mrs. Matthews lead me through the halls to a blue door that looked no different than all of the ones around it. She opened the door and I stepped inside. Hadley was laying there, half sat up by the pillows around her. Her red hair dye was much more grown out than she'd ever let it been, natural strands taking up too much of her scalp. She didn't look very good and the hospital lights weren't helping much. The gash on her forehead was stitched up. It looked a lot less severe when it wasn't gushing blood.

"I'll let you two talk," said Mrs. Matthews, stepping out behind me. Hadley smiled weakly at me and I smiled back. I opened my mouth to speak just at the same time as her. SHe awkwardly laughed and patted the bed next to her. "Quit standing there with your mouth open, you look like an idiot."

I closed my mouth in surprise and she laughed. A real laugh. That was nice to hear. I watched her with a smile as she continued to look at me. God, I was glad she wanted to see me.

"Kara," she said breaking my concentration.

"What?" I looked away from her face to see her gesturing to the bed next to her again. "Oh, right. Sorry."

I moved to sit next to her, unsure of what to say, I spit out the first thing that came to mind. "You look terrible."

My eyes went wide and I covered up my mouth as she laughed at what I said. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I don't know why I said that-"

"You are such a dumbass Kara Danvers," she got out between giggles. As her laughs ceased, a more serious expression overtook her face. "Now, are you going to tell me why our science teacher tried to bash my skull in?"

"Hadley-"

"Kara, I know it's been rough between us recently but I'm kind of done with the bullshit. My mom told me that you were the one that brought me to the hospital and reported Kane to the police, so I know you know something about what's going on."

"You don't remember what happened down in the bunker?" She shook her head. I took a moment to think about my words before I replied. "It's a lot to explain. I barely understand it myself, Hads." She stayed silent and I sighed. I knew I was going to have to talk to her about this. I just didn't think it would be this hard.

"She killed Thea and Josh."

"I know."

"She did it because of-" I stopped myself from throwing blame directly onto me. I'd done that enough already. "Ten or so years ago an alien pod crashed around here. She was hired to come out to Midvale and find whoever was inside. That's why she took Thea and Josh, they fit her profile."

"What? Are you serious?" She asked, eyebrows raised.

"She told me herself."

"Okay, so she thought that Thea and Josh were aliens, which I still don't buy, by the way. Then why do I have a permanent scar and a mild concussion?"

"Her hideout really was a bunker under the barn. She had just figured out who her actual target was and was on her way to the barn when we were there investigating. You ran right into her and she realized you presented the perfect opportunity to get the person she was looking for."

"That makes no sense, Kara. I don't know any- any aliens. That's ridiculous." I couldn't speak. I couldn't even meet her eye. I just stared at my hands in my lap. "Kara?"

This was that moment. The reason my parents had told me not to come. They knew Hadley was an inquisitive girl and there was no way I was going to come out of her hospital room without her finding out. Even though I knew this going in, somehow I hadn't gotten the idea to figure out what I was going to say. "Kane was crazy. No sane person can do what she did, but she was right. An alien pod really did crash in Midvale. My parents saw it happen and drove the truck out to investigate."

I looked back at Hadley. She had already put the pieces together but she let me continue. "I dream about my old life most nights. My birth parents were both gorgeous, let me tell you. My mom was practically made of sunshine. I'm not sure what they did, but my uncle was a scientist. I had a baby cousin, a super cute kid. Something was wrong though. With the planet, I mean. There were earthquakes all of the time and everyone was really worried about them. One day the earthquakes just didn't stop and we went to my uncle's lab. Everything happened so fast, I'm not sure how it all happened but I ended up in a pod and they didn't."

It was quiet for a few moments before Hadley said anything. "I didn't know."

"Neither did I. At least I didn't put everything together until yesterday when I told my parents about Dr. Kane."

She grabbed my hand and rubbed her thumb over mine. We sat like that for a long time before she posed a question. "What're you gonna do now?"

"Well Dr. Kane is still MIA and I'm pretty sure several people saw me flying when I brought you here-"

"You can fly?" she asked, hazel eyes wide as she looked at me in awe.

"Did I not mention that?" I tried to laugh it off, rubbing the back of my neck. "It's not a big deal."

"Kara Danvers, only you could be a flying alien and say that it's not a big deal."

"What can I say, it's my superpower." We both laughed at my stupid joke. "Seriously though, I don't think it's a good idea for me to stay in Midvale for much longer. My parents want me to at least stay until I graduate, but a lot can happen in two years."

"Where would you go?"

"I was thinking Metropolis. My Aunt Lana lives there and I'm pretty sure it's the only place where I'm going to be able to find out more about who I am."

Hadley cocked her head to the side, looking at me quizzically. "What's in Metropolis?"

"It's kind of stupid," I replied, not really wanting to say. It was probably the craziest part of everything I had learned in the past few days. Hadley folded her arms and stared at me defiantly. I sighed. "Superman. I think that he's- I think that we're from the same planet."

"What?" Hadley practically fell out of the bed. "Flying alien I can buy, but seriously? Are you okay? Do you have a fever? Do you even get fever's?"

I grabbed her hands away from my forehead and held her still. "Yes, I'm okay. No, I don't have a fever and I'm not sure if I can get one."

"Then what makes you think you're related to- to the strongest alien guy on the planet?" She asked loudly. I winced.

"Will you talk a little louder? I'm not sure the entire hospital heard you."

"Sorry."

"Anyway, when my parents found me, I was wrapped up in a banner that was the same symbol superman wears on it. I wouldn't have believed them if they didn't get it down from the attic and show me yesterday."

"Wow," said Hadley, leaning back against her pillows. "That's a lot to process."

"I know. I'm sorry for throwing it all on you at once." Hadley smiled at me and I smiled back and stood up. "I should probably get going. Lots of stuff to work out with my parents. Plus your mom probably wants to see you."

"You aren't going to skip town without saying goodbye, are you?"

"Of course not, we'll see each other again. Plus I owe Gavin an explanation about all of this too." Hadley nodded in agreement and I started to leave. I was reaching out for the doorknob when I turned back around. "I hope it goes without saying that this knowledge stays in a tight circle. You, me, Gavin, and my parents for now, okay?"

"Yeah, I get it. Don't want to ruin your secret identity."

"I don't have a secret identity."

"If you say so, Danvers." I smiled at her. She was already looking much better than she had when I first came in. The smile she was sporting definitely helped a lot. My eyes caught the stitches on her hairline. "I'm sorry for not telling you sooner. Maybe some of this could have been avoided."

Hadley frowned a little at my words before replying. "Don't get too worked up over it. We make mistakes. You had your reasons to be secretive."

I smiled in thanks and waved goodbye before finally leaving the hospital room feeling a lot better than I had when I first went in.

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The Midvale bus station was a fairly dismal place. The early February sun was peeking out from behind the clouds, lighting up the dull gray paint on the side of the building. I was sitting on a bench outside the bus depot with my parents, waiting for Hadley and Gavin to arrive. They had promised to race there after school so they could say goodbye to me before I left. My last official day had been the day before last and I had been spending all of my free time trying to get all of the odd jobs my dad had always asked me to do done before I left. We all hoped I wouldn't be gone long, but I barely had any idea what I was doing, let alone how long it might take.

Finally, Gavin's pick up truck came around the corner and I excitedly jumped up, my purple backpack snagging on the bench and yanking me back down. My father's laughter rang out as I angrily tried to tug myself free. My mom lightly smacked him before turning back to me and simply separated me from the bench and thanked her and sent my dad a playful scowl before turning to greet the twins.

Hadley got to me first, jumping into my arms and wrapping her legs around my waist. "Oh my god, Midvale is so boring without you, are you sure you can't just fly back here every day for school?"

I laughed as I put her down. Her forehead was looking much better now and she was acting like her old self. "I wish, but I'm already enrolled at the high school near my Aunt Lana's apartment."

"Forgetting somebody?" asked Gavin. I smiled wickedly before grabbing him around the middle and spinning him around like a princess, lifting us just barely off the ground as I did.

"I'd never forget about you Gav," I replied as I put him back down. He stuck his tongue out at me and Hadley and I laughed at him. "I'm glad you guys came."

"We wouldn't miss it for the world fly-girl."

"Yeah, you're, like, the coolest person we know," joked Hadley and I rolled my eyes. I suddenly perked up as I heard the bus in the distance. "What's wrong?"

"The bus is going to be here in a couple of minutes," I replied with a frown. Hadley and Gavin lost their smiles. Hadley quickly pulled me into an embrace and Gavin quickly joined the group hug. We stayed like that, holding onto each other tightly until the bus turned around the corner and I pulled back. "We have phones guys. Pus, I'm only a few hours away and I'm pretty sure I can cover that distance pretty quickly if I need to."

Hadley nodded and Gavin patted me on the shoulder. "Go say goodbye to your parents fly-girl."

I smiled in thanks and turned to see my mom and dad standing there watching us say goodbye to each other. Running up, I pulled them into a hug, not wanting to let go of them. "Thank you. For everything. I love you guys so much."

"We love you too, sweetie," said my mom pulling back from the hug and wiping the tears from her eyes. "I'm gonna miss you so much." I gave another tight hug before turning to my dad and giving him the same treatment.

"You don't want to miss your bus, kiddo," he said handing me my suitcase. "I love you, Kara."

"I love you too, dad!" I said, kissing him on the cheek.

We all passed around another round of "I love you's" and "I'll miss you's" before I started up the bus steps, showing the driver my ticket and moving down the aisle. There were only a handful of people on the bus. An old woman was knitting near the front and a teenager with a hoodie was listening to music in the back. Thankfully it would be a peaceful trip.

Picking a seat in the middle, I put my luggage in a compartment and slid into the window seat. I placed my backpack on the seat next to me to ward off any boarding passengers from sitting next to me before I spotted my family waving at me. I waved back and blew kisses until we drove away when I finally rested back in my seat. Hadley and Gavin had made fun of me for taking the bus instead of just flying or running but my Aunt Lana was under the impression that I was a normal kid coming to stay with her so I could go to a better high school in the city so I needed to have her pick me up at the bus stop.

Opening my phone, I set myself a timer to wake me up before the ride was over before leaning against the window. I hadn't dreamed of my past since the night where I dreamed of my parents sending me to Earth. It was nice to be able to sleep peacefully for once, but I missed being able to see them. Still, I closed my eyes and hoped I might dream up a happy memory.

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A/N: That's (almost) all folks! There is a little epilogue I have written up so I hope y'all enjoy it. Thank you so much for coming on this ride with me. It's a little hard for me to go back and read the chapters from the beginning because I just want to tear my old writing apart, so I might go back in and re-vamp some old chapters at some point but nothing story wise is going to change there. Thank you all so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!


	11. Indifference

Twigs and sticks snapped underneath the cold soles of dress shoes. Their owner moved with purpose, the steady rhythm of his footsteps accompanied by the sounds of the forest around him. Unheeded by anything that came across his path, he stepped over any stray logs or police tape that made any attempt to stop him from reaching his destination. His steps slowed as he finally broke through the trees. The clearing in front of him was a wasteland. It was littered with pieces of wood and old, rusted farming equipment. The man stepped over the head of an old pickaxe to reach his final goal.

He peered down the hole in the ground, not bothering to move aside the police tape and inspect it any further. Clearly, things had not worked out and he didn't expect there to be much he could salvage from this outpost. He didn't need to get himself involved in police matters.

The sound of leaves rustling caused him to look up. Standing on the edge of the clearing, red hair in a tangled mess, clothes covered in dirt was one Dr. Elizabeth Kane. The man frowned. "You could've dressed up a bit, Elizabeth."

"Sorry, it's hard to curl your hair when you're wanted for murder," she replied as she approached. "I see you took your time in meeting with me."

"I had business in London. Plus, we needed to wait until the local police were done searching the woods." He eyed the manilla folder that Elizabeth held tightly in her hand. A "C" was stamped across the front and he could see a part of a paper clip holding something inside. "Is that what we discussed?"

She handed him the file and he looked it over as she spoke. "Everything I had on her is in there. I couldn't conduct any tests but I can tell you that she's the one. You should've seen the abilities she exhibited when she escaped. None of it was refined but it was still incredible. I don't even think she realized she used her heat vision on me."

The man looked at the school photo on the inside cover. Her blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail but a few strands were falling out in the front. Black box-frame glasses rested on top of her upturned nose. Her dazzling smile shone almost as bright as her big, blue eyes and everything about her screamed 'sunshine'. "She has his eyes."

"Yes, she does. Now, are we going to discuss how we plan to deal with the mess the invest-" Elizabeth held her tongue, eyes trained on the gun the man was now wiping down with a handkerchief. "What're you doing?"

"Giving you a choice. You don't have a lot of options here Elizabeth. You could try to run, but you're wanted for the murder of two perfectly good kids so I doubt that'll last long. When you get arrested you could try to spill information on our arrangement to lessen your sentence, but we have plenty of evidence crafted to falsify everything that you could say about me. To the world, you're just a crazed scientist who quit her high-end job to go murder kids in a small town, and people like that don't have much of a chance in our society." He tossed the gun down at her feet and turned on his heel, not giving a second glance to the distraught woman he left behind.

Hands in his pants pockets, the man ambled back the way he came. He was almost to his car when a shot rang out through the forest. A smile played on his lips as he approached the black SUV parked alongside the dirt road. A second man popped out of the driver's side door and opened up the back seat for the man in the suit before returning to the front of the car.

"Where to Mr. Luthor?"

"Metropolis. I've got some work to do."


End file.
